1892 


President 


THi 


X^K 


One  Hundred  Years 
of  Fire  Insurance^ 

of  the 

^TNA 

Insurance  Company 

Hartford,  Conne6ticut 
1819-1919 


3l/  Henry  R.  Gall 

and 

William  George  Jordan 


Published  by  the 

iEtna  Insurance  Company 

Hartford,  Connecticut 

1919 


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jm^ 


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^  \^)b'^m^)^m&M^-^^}^''^^M  m 


^^^^^^^^^^^p 


^TNA  INSURANXE  COMPANY 
PRINTING  DEPARTMENT 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  page 

I     The  Dawn, 3 

II     Birthplace  of  the  yEtna, 17 

III  Starting  a  Great  Enterprise, 28 

IV  Building  for  the  Future, 40 

V  The  ^tna  Begins  to  Spread, 55 

VI     Facing  its  First  Crisis, 65 

VII     "Old  Etna's"  Growing  Pains, 85 

VIII     New  Times  and  New  Faces, 106 

IX    The  i^TNA's  Courageous  Stand, 112 

X  President  Clark's  Administration,        ....    128 

XI     The  ^tna  and  Its  Agents, 149 

XII    The  Winning  of  the  West, 176 

XIII  The  Pacific  Branch, 188 

XIV  The  Law  Makers  and  Insurance, 198 

XV    Marine  Underwriting, 207 

XVI     During  the  Great  War, 220 

XVII     The  Past  and  the  Present, 224 

Appendices 

I     ^TNA  Charter  and  Amendments, 231 

II     Chronology  of  the  .^tna, 239 

III  Original  Stockholders  of  the  ^Etna,  ....   248 

IV  Directors  1819  to  1919, 249 

V  ^TNA  Officers  1819  to  1919, 252 

VI     Losses  Paid  by  the  ^Etna, 254 

Index, 255 

[v] 


2012484 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

William  B.  Clark,  Eighth  President,       .      .      .      Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAGE 

Thomas  K.  Brace,  First  and  Third  President,    ....  30 

Section  of  Original  Petition  for  ^tna  Charter,    .      .  32 

Original  Entry  in  First  Record  Book, 36 

Seal  of  ^tna  Insurance  Company, 38 

First  ^tna  Advertisement, 42 

Henry  L.  Ellsworth,  Second  President, 52 

Page  from  Correspondence  Book  No.  i, 58 

^Etna  Policy  No.  i, 74 

^TNA  Office  Building,  1837  to  1867, 78 

Isaac  Perkins,  First  Secretary,  and  Simeon  L.  Loomis, 

Second  Secretary, 82 

Old  Farm  House  with  "^tna"  Tin  Sign  over  the  Door,  90 

Edwin  G.  Ripley,  Fourth  President, 96 

Thomas  A.  Alexander,  Fifth  President, 102 

^TNA  Office  Building,  1867  to  1903, 108 

Lucius  J.  Hendee,  Sixth  President, 114 

JoTHAM  Goodnow,  Seventh  President, 124 

Henry  E.  Rees,  Vice-President;    Almeron  N.  Williams, 

Vice-President;    Edgar  J.  Sloan,  Secretary,  ....    130 

Etna's  Present  Office  Building, 136 

[vii] 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 


Edwin  S.  Allen,  Guy  E.  Beardsley,  and  Ralph  B.  Ives, 

Assistant  Secretaries, 142 

Loving  Cup  presented  to  President  Clark,    ....   146 

Old  Office  Building  of  ^tna  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,       .   182 

Thomas  E.  Gallagher,  General  Agent,  and  Louis  O.  Kohtz, 

Assistant  General  Agent,  Western  Branch,  Chicago,        .    186 

George  C.  Boardman  and  George  W,  Spencer,  former 
General  Agent  and  Assistant  General  Agent,  respectively, 
Pacific  Branch,  San  Francisco,  California,        .      .      .      .190 

William  H.  Breeding,  General  Agent  Pacific  Branch,        .    196 

William    F.    Whittelsey,    Marine    Vice-President,    and 

Raymond  E.  Stronach,  Marine  Secretary,      ....   214 

^Etna  "Roll  of  Honor," 222 


[  viii  ] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS 
OF  FIRE   INSURANCE 


Chapter  I 

THE  DAWN 

IN  tracing  the  history  of  any  idea,  institution  or 
subject,  it  is  a  bit  daring  and  self-confident  to 
stick  a  pin  into  a  certain  date  or  incident  and 
to  say  that  there  was  its  actual  beginning.  The  origins, 
in  every  phase  of  life  and  thought,  are  shrouded  in  the 
haze  of  tradition  or  controversy.  There  is  often 
the  germ  of  a  great  idea,  or  the  recognition  of  a  real 
need,  followed  by  tentative  and  inadequate  efforts  to 
meet  it,  yet  no  more  like  its  present  state  of  develop- 
ment than  the  first  hot-air  balloon  is  like  a  1919  model 
in  airships.  So  it  is  in  the  long  evolution  of  fire 
insurance  into  a  well-organized,  modern  business. 

Away  back  in  the  old  days  in  Assyria  and  the 
East,  about  twenty-five  hundred  years  ago,  as  we  learn 
from  the  inscriptions  on  clay  tablets  and  cylinders  dug 
up  from  the  ruined  cities,  there  was  a  primitive  kind 
of  insurance.  In  case  of  fire,  the  magistrates,  judges 
and  priests  of  the  town  or  district  were  empowered  to 
make  up  the  loss  to  the  individual  by  assessing  all  the 
members  of  the  community.  This  method,  in  a 
modified  form,  still  exists  in  China  and  in  parts  of 
Russia.     It  seems  also   to  contain   the  germ  of  state 

[3] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


fire  insurance  as  practiced,  to  a  degree,  in  the  bureau- 
cratic and  autocratic  Germany  of  yesterday. 

During  the  Middle  Ages  there  was  some  kind  of 
security  against  loss  from  fire  and  other  hazards  in 
connection  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  German  guilds. 
The  members  of  these  guilds  made  contributions 
regularly  to  a  common  relief  fund,  somewhat  in  the 
manner  of  our  modern  benefit  societies. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  marine  insurance,  covering 
fire  at  sea  and  other  risks  of  traffic  and  travel  on  the 
waters,  preceded  land  insurance.  In  the  twelfth 
century  marine  insurance  was  either  conceived  or 
rediscovered  by  the  Italians,  as  claimed  by  the  historian 
Villani.  The  earliest  of  these  policies  of  insurance 
now  known  is  dated  September  20,  1547,  on  the  ship 
Santa  Maria  de  Venezia^  covering  her  trip  from  Cadiz 
to  London. 

It  is  from  the  Italians  that  we  get  our  word  under- 
writer^ for  they  began  their  contracts  with  the  equivalent 
of  "We  the  underwriters."  The  custom  was  to  divide 
a  large  risk  among  a  number  of  people,  who  agreed  to 
share  in  the  hazards  and  in  the  profits  of  the  enterprise 
in  proportion  to  the  subscription  made  by  them,  each 
writing  under  or  below  the  contract,  his  name  and  the 
amount  of  risk  he  would  assume.  The  word  policy^ 
too,  seems  to  have  come  from  Italy,  probably  being 
derived  from  the  word  "polizza,"  meaning  "promise," 
though  some  authorities  claim  for  it  a  different  origin. 

In  the  year  1609  we  have  the  first  clear  statement 
of  an  actual  system  of  fire  insurance  as  we  understand 
it  today.     It  was  a  proposition  made  to  Count  Anton 

[4] 


THE   DAWN 


Giinther,  who  has  been  described  as  the  "wisest  prince" 
that  ever  ruled  Oldenburg,  one  of  the  grand-duchies  of 
Germany.  It  was  proposed  that  he  offer,  for  the  sum 
of  a  dollar  a  year  on  every  hundred  dollars  of  valuation, 
to  guarantee  his  subjects  against  loss  by  fire,  the 
misfortunes  of  war  alone  excepted.  He  gave  con- 
siderable thought  to  the  plan,  which  he  believed  could 
be  made  successful,  but  finally  turned  it  down  for  two 
reasons:  he  feared  it  might  seem  that  he  was  willing  to 
make  money  from  the  sorrows  of  his  people,  and, 
more  important  to  him,  it  seemed  a  tempting  of 
Providence. 

But  good  ideas  often  move  slowly,  and  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century  the  subject  lay  dormant.  In  1635  a  peti- 
tion was  presented  to  Charles  I  of  England  **to  ensure 
all  your  Majesty's  subjects  whomsoever  for  so  much 
of  their  estates  combustible  as  they  themselves  shall 
conceive  in  danger  of  Fire."  This  seems  to  have  been 
pigeon-holed,  for  three  years  later  a  similar  petition 
was  favorably  received;  and  on  October  16,  1638,  the 
King  ordered  the  Attorney  General  to  prepare  a  patent 
for  such  a  company,  to  run  for  forty-one  years,  and  to 
"await  his  royal  signature."  But  the  King  soon  became 
engrossed  in  taking  care  of  his  royal  political  fences, 
and  the  insurance  project  was  forgotten.  Other 
attempts,  made  later,  also  failed. 

Then  came  the  great  fire  of  London  in  1666,  which 
burned  over  435  acres  and  destroyed  over  85  per  cent, 
of  the  buildings,  with  a  loss  of  about  ten  million  pounds. 
This  conflagration  advertised  graphically  and  tragically 
the  need  of  protecting  individuals  against  loss  by  fire. 

[5] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


In  the  year  following,  Nicholas  Barbon,  one  of  the  first 
and  most  important  builders  of  London,  opened  an 
office  where  he  individually  proposed  to  insure  buildings. 
He  had  some  success,  and  in  1680  he  formed  a  part- 
nership and  established  the  "Fire  Office"  at  the  "back 
side  of  the  Royal  Exchange."  This  concern  insured 
houses  to  a  stated  amount  for  a  fixed  premium;  namely, 
lyi  per  cent,  of  the  yearly  rental  for  brick  houses  and 
5  per  cent,  for  frame  houses,  the  rental  being  assumed 
to  be  10  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the  property.  The 
capital  of  the  firm  was  £40,000,  or  about  $200,000  — 
to  be  increased  by  £20,000  for  every  10,000  houses 
insured.  It  was  believed  that  the  interest  of  the  fund 
would  pay  all  losses  and  leave  a  good  margin  of  profit. 
They  must  have  had  luck,  for  although  their  plan 
seemed  to  leave  no  opportunity  for  discrimination  in 
risks,  and  there  were  few  facts  to  go  by  and  only  most 
crude  statistics,  yet  somehow  the  business  prospered. 
Possibly  their  recent  calamity  had  taught  the  people 
caution,  and  thus  reduced  the  probability  of  fire  to  a 
minimum. 

Within  a  year  the  very  success  of  the  new  ven- 
ture threatened  to  kill  it.  Envy  and  opposition  were 
followed  by  a  socialistic  demand  that  such  profits 
should  not  go  to  a  private  concern,  but  should  accrue 
to  all  the  people.  The  Common  Council  voted  to  do 
the  business  at  a  lower  rate  than  the  Fire  Office,  and 
books  were  opened  and  policies  issued.  Realizing  that 
they  could  not  stand  against  this  opposition,  which 
had  so  coolly  appropriated  their  idea  when  it  promised 
prosperity,  Barbon  and  his  associates,  facing  disaster 

[6] 


THE   DAWN 


and  ruin,  fought  for  the  life  of  their  concern.  Many 
fair-minded  citizens,  who  believed  in  rewarding  and 
encouraging  individual  initiative  and  enterprise,  joined 
with  them.  The  battle,  carried  on  by  means  of  public 
meetings,  pamphlets,  and  articles  in  the  "Gazette," 
proved  warm  and  spirited. 

In  a  year  or  so  the  city  abandoned  the  project. 
The  "Fire  Office"  at  the  back  of  the  Royal  Exchange 
was  thus  left  alone  in  the  field.  Its  symbol  or  trade- 
mark was  a  phoenix  amid  flames;  and  as  it  placed  a 
badge  with  this  device  on  all  buildings  it  insured,  it 
soon  became  known  as  "The  Phoenix  Office."  Later, 
when  it  aged,  it  was  called  the  "Old  Phoenix,"  much  as 
the  JEtna  Insurance  Company  centuries  later  became 
popularly  and  affectionately  known  throughout  the 
Western  world  as  "Old  JEtna." 

Then  came  upon  the  stage  of  action  the  first  of  the 
mutual  insurance  associations.  It  was  the  Friendly 
Society,  with  its  device  of  a  sheaf  of  arrows.  The  plan 
of  this  new  organization  was  different.  The  assured 
had  to  meet  three  conditions  —  first,  the  payment  of 
a  small  sum  yearly,  varying  in  amount  as  his  building 
was  of  brick  or  frame;  second,  he  deposited  a  sum 
equaling  five  annual  payments  in  advance  to  guarantee 
future  assessments;  and  third,  he  agreed  to  contribute 
toward  the  settlement  of  each  loss  of  the  Society  by 
fire,  up  to  and  not  exceeding  thirty  shillings  on  each 
hundred  pounds  of  his  insurance.  The  policy-holders 
were  thus  responsible  for  one  another's  losses. 

The  Phoenix  promptly  began  to  fight  the  Friendly, 
tooth  and  nail.     It  applied  to  the  Lords  of  the  Privy 

[7] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

Council  for  the  exclusive  right  of  "making  and  register- 
ing all  assurances,  policies,  and  contracts  of  houses 
from  fire  for  thirty-one  years."  Its  greedy  demand 
was  not  satisfied,  but  it  was  granted  the  entire  field 
free  from  competition  for  one  year;  after  which  the 
Friendly  Society  could  do  business  for  three  months 
and  rest  for  three  months,  and  so  on  by  alternate  quarter 
years  of  business  and  retirement.  As  a  part  of  this 
decision,  given  in  1687  in  the  presence  of  King  James  II, 
the  Phoenix  was  required  to  pay  the  government  for 
its  work  in  putting  out  fires,  the  amount  being  fixed 
by  the  King  for  each  individual  fire. 

In  1688  the  political  and  business  atmosphere  of 
England  began  to  clear;  there  was  greater  freedom 
from  petty  restrictions,  and  underwriting  no  longer 
required  a  special  license.  In  1696  a  new  form  of 
mutual  insurance  was  started  by  an  organization 
which  had  many  names  during  the  ensuing  century, 
among  them  the  "Amicable  Contributionship,"  but 
since  1776  has  been  known  as  the  Hand-in-Hand 
Company;  deriving  its  name  from  the  device  of  inter- 
clasped  hands,  which  from  the  beginning  it  had  used  as 
its  emblem  on  all  the  buildings  it  insured.  This 
Company  grew  rapidly  and  prospered.  It  is  now  the 
oldest  mutual  fire  insurance  company  in  the  world, 
but  confines  its  operations  to  London  and  its  suburbs. 
The  original  plan  of  the  Hand-in-Hand  had  as  one 
element  a  deposit  to  be  paid  back,  less  expenses,  on 
the  termination  of  a  policy.  Profits  from  interest  on 
invested  funds,  less  losses  and  expenses,  were  to  be 
distributed   among  the  stockholders,  and   the  rate  of 

[8] 


THE  DAWN 


assessment  was  to  be  determined  annually  by  the  Board 
of  Directors. 

Up  to  the  dawn  of  the  i8th  century,  insurance  on 
dwellings,  stores  or  other  buildings  had  covered  only 
the  structures  themselves,  and  not  the  contents.  In 
1704  "Lombard  House"  was  organized  for  the  insurance, 
among  other  things,  of  household  and  business  goods. 
This  was  the  first  company  to  enter  this  field,  as  it 
also  was  the  first  to  institute  a  salvage  corps,  for  the 
rescue  and  saving  of  goods  at  fires.  The  proposal  to 
insure  household  furniture  was  at  first  met  with  loud 
and  merry  ridicule,  but  it  soon  became  popular. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Charles  Povey,  who 
seems  to  have  been  an  energetic  hustler,  with  a  streak 
of  the  Yankee  in  his  composition,  made  his  appearance 
in  the  fire  insurance  field.  He  had  no  money,  but 
apparently  plenty  of  nerve,  for  he  formed  an  organi- 
zation and  opened  an  office  in  London  to  insure  buildings 
against  fire.  This  venture  not  succeeding,  he  formed 
another  organization  to  insure  household  furniture 
and  merchandise  throughout  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 
Although  he  was  long  on  hope  and  short  on  funds,  the 
laughter  incited  by  his  efforts  did  not  daunt  his  courage 
and  determination. 

The  second  venture  not  proving  any  more  successful 
than  the  first,  Povey  conceived  the  idea  of  a  third 
organization;  and  here  he  seems  to  have  foreshadowed 
the  ''holding  company"  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
for  his  third  organization  was  to  own  the  other  two. 
It  was  known  as  the  London  Insurers,  but  soon  adopted 
the   name   of  the   Sun    Fire   Office.      There   was   one 

[9] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


difficult  phase  of  his  problem  —  he  had  no  capital  to 
pay  losses.  This,  however,  was  only  an  incident  to 
the  young  Napoleon  of  finance.  He  solved  that 
difficulty  to  his  satisfaction  by  stating  in  his  policies 
that  one-half  of  the  premium  received  would  be  set 
aside  as  a  reserve  fund  from  which  losses  would  be 
paid,  with  the  added  proviso  that  when  this  reserve 
became  exhausted  the  company  was  not  to  be  held 
further  liable.  His  reserve  fund  must  not  be  confused 
with  that  carried  by  our  modern  fire  insurance  com- 
panies, which  is  a  wise,  safe  guarantee  in  addition  to 
their  entire  capital;  the  reserve  fund  of  the  Sun  Fire 
Office,  or  Mr.  Povey,  as  you  prefer,  represented  his 
only  capital. 

Insurers  somehow  did  not  take  over-kindly  to  this 
scheme,  with  its  lottery  atmosphere  of  chance  and  with 
the  odds  all  against  them.  Later,  the  company 
announced  that  it  would  make  its  promise  to  pay 
unconditional,  and  in  1726  a  capital  fund  of  £48,000 
was  secured.  The  company  remained  a  partnership 
and  never  incorporated.  Begun  in  17 10  on  a  shoe- 
string, it  succeeded  and  it  still  exists,  flourishing  today 
as  the  oldest  non-mutual  fire  insurance  company  in 
the  world. 

There  were  by  this  time  a  number  of  companies  in 
operation,  doing  a  profitable  business.  Fire  insurance 
had  vindicated  itself  as  a  real  need;  and  the  prosperity 
of  these  companies  tempted  men,  some  impractical, 
some  over-optimistic  and  others  unscrupulous,  to  enter 
the  field.  In  1720  began  an  era  of  flimsy,  speculative 
companies,  which  flooded  the  market,  somewhat  like 

[10] 


THE  DAWN 


the  wildcat  concerns  that  proved  such  a  menace  to 
safe,  sound  and  conservative  underwriting  in  our  own 
country  at  different  periods  during  the  last  century. 

The  air  of  England,  in  the  early  part  of  the  eight- 
eenth century,  seemed  surcharged  with  get-rich-quick 
schemes.  The  people  were  wild  over  the  possibilities 
of  the  great  "South  Sea  Company,"  organized  in  171 1 
to  capture  what  was  claimed  to  be  the  untold  wealth 
of  South  American  trade.  Enthusiasm  grew  to  frenzy, 
mad,  unreasoning  and  unreasonable;  every  class  of 
society  from  the  King,  who  was  its  Governor,  down  to 
the  humblest  peasant,  was  in  the  Company,  or  was 
begging  or  borrowing  or  stealing  money  to  get  in. 

For  valuable  concessions  and  privileges,  the  Com- 
pany offered  to  take  over  the  entire  national  debt  of 
England,  amounting  to  over  £50,000,000.  There  were 
tricks,  and  wheels  within  wheels,  in  this  scheme;  but 
Parliament  nibbled  at  the  bait  and  then  swallowed  it 
whole,  and  the  offer  was  accepted  despite  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  Bank  of  England,  which  offered  £5,000,000 
for  the  same  privileges.  The  business  was  prosperous 
for  years  or  was  made  to  seem  so;  big  dividends  brought 
in  bigger  investments,  and  shares  rose  from  £100  to 
£1,000  in  a  brief  time.  Then  at  the  very  height  of 
speculation  Sir  John  Blount,  one  of  the  promoters,  sold 
out.  This  started  an  avalanche  of  unloading,  and  the 
beautiful  "South  Sea  Bubble"  burst.  Thousands  who 
dreamed  themselves  millionaires  were  actually  beggared, 
and  the  whole  fabric  of  trickery,  knavery  and  corruption 
was  revealed. 

The  speculative  mania  inspired  during  the  life  of 

[II] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

the  "Bubble"  affected  fire  insurance.  It  was  the  time 
of  the  promoter's  paradise,  and  prospectuses  breathed 
of  romance  and  wealth,  and  luxury  for  one's  whole 
lifetime,  to  be  easily  secured  by  merely  investing  in  a 
few  shares  of  some  new  company. 

Shortly  before  the  collapse,  when  the  "Bubble" 
was  showing  its  most  iridescent  hues.  Overall's  Insur- 
ance Company  invited  stock  subscriptions  to  the  tune 
of  one  million  pounds  sterling.  Their  prospectus  read 
like  a  page  from  Monte  Cristo;  they  were  going  to  do 
wonders,  but  really  they  did  not,  for  they  too  went 
down  in  the  crash.  Other  companies  were  started  with 
calls  for  capital  of  from  one  to  three  million  pounds 
each.  One  of  these  proposed  a  scheme  to  combine 
insurance  and  building. 

This  saturnalia  of  frenzied  finance  eventually  came 
to  an  end.  The  wreckage  was  great  and  the  mourners 
were  many;  but  after  it  was  all  over,  legislation  stepped 
in  to  safeguard  insurance  in  the  spirit  of  modern 
business.  There  was  a  steady  increase  along  normal 
lines,  new  companies  being  formed  as  needed,  until  in 
1856  there  were  seventy-two  corporations  or  companies 
recognized  by  the  government,  and  insuring  property 
to  an  amount  aggregating  over  nine  hundred  million 
pounds  sterling. 

Fire  insurance  as  a  business  was  still  in  its  infancy 
when  it  was  transplanted  to  America.  The  first 
company  in  this  country  of  which  we  have  record  was 
started  in  1752  in  Philadelphia.  Like  its  prototype  in 
England,  it  had  a  long,  cumbersome  name  which  it 
succeeded  in  shortening  and  living  down;   it  was  "The 

[12] 


THE  DAWN 


Philadelphia  Contributionship  for  the  Insurance  of 
Houses  from  Loss  by  Fire."  Benjamin  Franklin  was 
one  of  its  most  enthusiastic  promoters.  It  was  modeled 
on  the  Amicable  Contributionship,  or  Hand-in-Hand, 
of  London,  and  adopted  its  name,  plan,  seal  and  badge — 
four  hands  clasped.  Under  the  name  of  the  Hand- 
in-Hand  this  company  still  continues  in  business. 

In  1783  the  Company  passed  a  by-law  refusing  to 
insure  houses  surrounded  by  shade-trees,  on  the  ground 
that  the  trees  impeded  the  putting  out  of  a  fire.  This 
stand  aroused  opposition,  and  many  of  those  insured 
by  this  institution  seceded  and  organized  a  new  com- 
pany known  as  the  "Mutual  Assurance."  Its  house- 
mark  was  a  green  tree,  made  of  lead,  fastened  to  a 
wooden  shield  and  affixed  to  all  houses  insured  by 
the  company. 

It  was  not  until  1770  that  there  was  even  an  attempt 
to  organize  a  fire  insurance  company  in  the  city  of 
New  York.  Though  proposed  and  discussed  under  the 
dignified  chaperonage  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
discussion  soon  languished  into  inactivity  and  the  whole 
plan  petered  out.  It  was  not  until  seventeen  years 
later  that  the  first  company  in  New  York  was  organ- 
ized (though  not  incorporated  until  1809)  under  the 
name  of  the  Mutual  Insurance  Company  and  later 
changed  to  the  Knickerbocker  Fire  Insurance  Co. 
In  the  same  year,  1787,  the  New  York  Insurance 
Company  was  also  started;  in  1801  the  Columbian 
Insurance  Company;  and  five  years  later  the  Eagle 
Fire,  now  the  oldest  stock  fire  insurance  company  in 
New  York.     In  1799  the  Providence-Washington  began 

[13] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


business  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  and  still  con- 
tinues in  successful  operation. 

During  the  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  century 
in  this  country,  thirty  charters  for  insurance  companies 
were  granted,  most  of  them  being  for  marine  and  fire 
insurance.  They  were  distributed  as  follows:  Mary- 
land seven,  Massachusetts  six.  New  York  four, 
Pennsylvania  four,  Connecticut  three.  South  Carolina 
two,  Rhode  Island  two,  New  Hampshire  one,  and  one 
in  Mrginia. 

Fire  insurance  existed  in  but  a  crude,  experimental 
form  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Though  based  on  a 
genuine  need,  in  its  practice  even  the  broad  funda- 
mental principles  were  not  recognized,  and  there  were 
no  statistics  and  no  precedents  of  value.  Early  colon- 
ists who  came  to  this  country  brought  over  the  idea 
from  England;  but  in  the  working  out,  the  development 
and  improvement  of  the  thought  into  finer,  practical 
detail,  it  was  more  American  than  British.  In  this 
field  no  State  did  more  important  work  than  Connecti- 
cut, and  Hartford  early  achieved  prominence  that 
later  came  close  to  pre-eminence. 

The  early  underwriting  in  Connecticut,  as  in  the 
other  colonies,  was  generally  of  an  individual  or 
partnership  character,  even  partnerships  not  coming  in 
until  near  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Early 
in  1794,  Peleg  Sanford  and  Daniel  Wadsworth  opened 
an  office  in  Hartford,  for  the  insurance  of  houses, 
merchandise  and  furniture.  A  year  later  they  formed  a 
copartnership,  taking  in  Elias  Shipman  of  New  Haven, 
who  was  made  agent  for  that  city,  for  the  purpose  of 

[14] 


THE   DAWN 


underwriting  on  vessels,  merchandise  and  stock,  under 
the  firm  name  of  the  "Hartford  and  New  Haven  Insur- 
ance Company."  In  1797,  Shipman  withdrew  from 
this  firm  and  estabhshed  a  new  business,  under  the 
charter  of  the  New  Haven  Insurance  Company,  which 
was  devoted  exclusively  to  marine  insurance  and  was 
carried  along  until  1833,  when  it  was  discontinued. 

The  oldest  insurance  company  in  Connecticut, 
and  the  first  to  be  incorporated  in  the  State,  is  the 
Mutual  Insurance  Company  of  the  City  of  Norwich, 
which  received  its  charter  in  May,  1795.  Each  person 
joining  agreed  to  pay  on  the  sum  insured,  for  the  first 
year  one-half  per  cent.,  for  the  second  year  one- 
third,  and  for  each  subsequent  year  one-quarter  per 
cent.  It  continues  to  do  a  small  business  and  has  never 
attempted  to  branch  out  into  larger  activities.  A 
similar  company  was  organized  in  1801  in  New  Haven, 
under  the  name  of  the  Mutual  Assurance  Company, 
but  it  did  not  succeed  and  soon  died  a  natural  death. 

In  1 8 10  the  Hartford  Fire  Insurance  Company  was 
organized  with  a  capital  of  ^150,000,  with  the  privilege 
of  increasing  to  $250,000.  The  first  President  was 
Major  Nathaniel  Terry,  who  headed  the  company 
for  twenty-five  years,  resigning  in  1835.  It  was  in 
1 8 13  that  the  Middletown  Fire  Insurance  Company 
was  incorporated.  It  somehow  did  not  strike  the 
right  gait,  as  it  survived  its  organization  by  only  six 
years  and  then  passed  out  of  existence.  Two  brief 
mentions  complete  the  record  of  insurance  in  Connect- 
icut up  to  the  year  18 19:  the  Norwich  Fire  Insurance 
Company,  which  was  organized  in  18 19  and  was  wiped 

[15] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

out  by  the  Chicago  fire;  and  the  New  Haven  Fire 
Insurance  Company,  started  in  the  same  year  as  the 
Norwich  Company,  and  surviving  only  a  few  years. 

Fire  insurance  in  America  had  now  merely  made  a 
good  start;  it  was  in  a  tentative,  learning,  struggling 
stage.  Its  real  vital  history,  as  a  business  reduced  to 
principle,  system  and  wise  and  scientific  underwriting, 
was  still  to  be  written  in  the  years  to  come  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  which  at  this  time  was  still  an 
infant  in  its  swaddling  clothes. 


[i6 


Chapter  II 

BIRTHPLACE  OF  THE  ^TNA 

THIS  country  of  ours,  during  the  few  years 
preceding  1819,  was  passing  through  stirring 
times  of  storm  and  stress,  of  wars  and  peace, 
of  alternating  depression  and  prosperity.  Underneath 
the  surface  of  conflict  and  confusion  there  was,  however, 
the  pulsing  throb,  the  freeing  of  mighty  formative 
forces,  and  the  reaching  out  toward  greater  things. 
Though  the  States  were  not  in  close  sympathy,  and 
while  there  were  sectional  jealousies  and  inharmonies 
and  the  threat  to  split  on  vital  issues,  yet  notwith- 
standing, it  was  the  real  dawn  of  a  national  spirit  in 
America.  The  people  began,  because  of  the  unifying 
pressure  of  conditions,  to  think  and  to  act  in  terms 
of  a  nation,  and  not  of  a  mere  union  of  States. 

In  1 8 14  we  had  two  wars  on  hand  at  the  same 
time — the  hard  conflict  with  England  and  the  war  with 
the  Creek  Indians  in  Alabama  which,  when  settled, 
ended  the  power  of  the  red  man  east  of  the  Mississippi. 
The  South  favored  the  war  with  England,  but  the 
North  bitterly  opposed  it.  The  presence  of  British 
troops  holding  on  land  a  large  part  of  Maine  and  the 
southern  portion  of  Massachusetts,  and  by  sea  block- 
2  [17] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

ading  the  ports,  roused  the  indignation  of  the  people 
of  New  England  to  fever  heat  against  the  Federal 
Government,  which  they  held  responsible  for  these 
conditions.  The  shipping  interests,  which  had  been 
the  pride  and  prosperity  of  the  people,  were  com- 
pletely ruined.  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode 
Island  refused'  the  levy  of  troops  to  the  government 
and  threatened  to  secede  from  the  union.  The  people 
of  Nantucket  declared  themselves  neutral  and  under 
the  protection  of  England.  The  famous  Hartford 
Convention  of  1814,  with  delegates  from  all  the  New 
England  States  condemning  the  war  and  the  adminis- 
tration of  President  Madison,  was  a  vent  to  the  angry 
feelings  of  the  people,  but  it  accomplished  nothing  but 
the  ruin  of  the  Federalist  Party  that  called  it.  In 
August,  1 8 14,  occurred  the  burningof  the  White  House 
and  of  the  unfinished  structure  of  the  Capitol,  con- 
taining the  archives  and  books  of  the  Congressional 
Library.  This  disaster  led  to  the  flight  of  the  President 
and  his  wife,  the  popular  "Dolly"  Madison,  who  hid 
in  the  woods  beyond  the  Potomac  to  escape  capture 
by  the  British. 

It  was  in  this  year,  too,  that  the  "Star  Spangled 
Banner"  was  written  by  Francis  S.  Key  while  detained 
on  a  British  ship  during  the  bombardment  of  Fort 
McHenry.  Money  was  scarce,  business  was  paralyzed, 
and  an  oppressive  and  unpopular  war-tax  was  levied 
on  caps,  hats,  boots,  watches,  household  furniture 
and  other  articles.  Henry  Clay  was  leader  of  the  new 
Democracy,  gloating  over  the  downfall  of  the  Federal- 
ists.    Nearly  all  the  banks  in  the  country  suspended 

[18] 


BIRTHPLACE  OF  THE  ^TNA 

specie  payment,  and  at  the  close  of  the  year  the  national 
debt  had  reached  what  was  for  the  people  at  that  time 
the  appalling  sum  of  about  one  hundred  million  dollars. 

Then  came  the  war  with  Algeria,  and  a  year  of 
depressed  spirits  and  empty  pockets.  The  painful  work 
of  reconstruction,  with  all  its  irritating  and  perplexing 
problems  and  tangles,  did  not  begin  till  after  the 
election  of  President  Monroe  in  1 8 17.  It  was  President 
Monroe  who,  six  years  later,  in  his  annual  message 
to  Congress,  enunciated  in  a  few  sentences  what  was 
later  to  become  famous  as  the  ''Monroe  Doctrine." 
He  declared  that  the  United  States  would  regard  as 
"unfriendly"  any  attempt  by  any  foreign  power  to 
extend  its  territory  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  or  to 
meddle  with  the  political  affairs  of  the  two  Americas. 
This  declaration  was  inspired  by  the  war  which  Spain 
was  then  carrying  on  against  her  revolting  colonies. 
It  was  given  new  life  by  President  Cleveland  in  1895 
in  his  message  concerning  the  Venezuelan  question. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  Monroe  administration 
the  rechartered  Bank  of  the  United  States  resumed 
operation  with  a  capital  of  $35,000,000,  and  long- 
languishing  business  began  to  revive.  The  first  savings 
bank  in  America  was  opened  in  Philadelphia;  Congress 
abolished  all  internal  taxes  and  enacted  a  high  pro- 
tective tariff  to  encourage  American  industries. 

We  were  just  beginning  to  breathe  freely  the  air 
of  peace  when  we  were  plunged  into  a  new  war,  the 
eighth  in  our  history  —  this  time  with  the  Seminole 
Indians  of  Florida.  The  great  West  began  to  open  up 
under  the  Government  encouragement  to  settlers   to 

[19] 


Jgf    ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

buv  public  lands,  and  the  guarantee  by  the  States  of 
immunity  from  taxation  on  these  lands  for  several 
years  Endless  picturesque  processions  of  prairie 
wagons  passed  through  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
on  their  way  to  the  prairies,  which  soon  became  dotted 
with  little  settlements,  the  germs  of  future  cities  and 

towns.  .  ,.  .       /r 

It  was  the  "Era  of  Good  Feeling"  in  pohtics  (tor 

by  this  name  was  the  period  from  1817  to  1823  popu- 
larly known),  and  party  lines  were  in  general  broken 
down.     Henry  Clay  was  prime  mover  in  an  attempt 
to  unscramble   the   eggs   of  slavery,   by   forming   the 
African    Colonization    Society    to    return    negroes    to 
Africa,   when    the   year    1817    was    nearing   its    close. 
The  slavery  question   was  much   in   evidence;    there 
was  violent  agitation  and  vigorous  resistance  incident 
to  the  petition  of  Missouri  for  admission  as  a  slave 
State.    The  Union  was  now  evenly  divided  into  eleven 
free   and   eleven   slave   States;    the   South   threatened 
secession    if    its    demands    were    not    satisfied.     Our 
pension  system,  which  was  to   assume  such  gigantic 
proportions  in  later  years,  was  at  this  time  begun  with 
the  first  grant  by  Congress  of  pensions  to  needy  veterans 
of  the  Revolutionary  War.     It  is  interesting  to  note 
in  this  connection  that  in  the  Great  War,  a  century 
later,  the  Government  abandoned    the    time-honored 
pension  scheme  of  relief  for  soldiers  and  their  depend- 
ants, and   adopted  a  plan  based  on   the  principle  of 
insurance. 

There   were   many   parallels   between    those    times 
and    the    present.     In    order    to    counteract    the    use 

[20] 


BIRTHPLACE  OF  THE  ^.TNA 


of  ardent  spirits  among  the  people,  Secretary  Calhoun 
prohibited  the  use  of  liquor  altogether  in  the  United 
States  army;  we  went  a  step  further  just  one  hundred 
years  later  when  it  was  forbidden  in  both  army  and 
navy,  with  the  resulting  final  plunge  into  national 
prohibition. 

When  in  1819,  John  J.  Crittenden  of  the  United 
States  Senate  resigned  "because  he  could  not  get 
bread  for  his  family  on  ^900  a  year,"  which  was  a 
Senator's  salary  in  those  days,  it  was  a  close  parallel 
to  the  resignation  in  1919  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
McAdoo  and  Attorney-General  Gregory,  because  they 
needed  more  money  than  the  ^12,000  a  year  they 
received  from  the  Government.  The  people  were 
then  suffering,  as  are  we  today,  from  the  high  cost 
of  living;  they,  in  that  year,  suffered  from  a  scourge 
with  its  wide  swath  of  mortality  —  yellow  fever, 
which  claimed  as  one  of  its  victims  the  hero  of  the 
memorable  battle  of  Lake  Erie,  the  famous  Commodore 
OUver  Hazard  Perry,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four;  we, 
a  century  later,  faced  the  horror  of  a  greater  scourge, 
the  Spanish  influenza,  with  a  higher  mortality  than 
our  entire  losses  in  the  great  world  war. 

In  1 8 19  the  country  faced  its  first  national  financial 
crisis.  The  stringency  and  hard  times  were,  to  a 
degree,  due  to  the  contagion  of  the  bad  times  in  Eng- 
land, but  also  to  our  own  extravagant  speculations 
and  reckless  over-confidence  following  the  reorgani- 
zation of  the  United  States  Bank. 

During  18 19  and  the  five  years  preceding,  there 
were  inventions,  discoveries  and  events,  not  of  great 

[21] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


immediate   importance,    but    big   with  possibilities  in 

the  future  development  of  the  ideals  and  industries  of 

the  country.     Beside  those  already  referred    to,    brief 

mention  may  be  made  of  the  erection  of  the  first  cotton 

mill,  the  first  rolling  mill  to  puddle  iron  and  roll  iron 

bars,  the  first  lighting  of  a  city  by  gas,  the  erection 

of  a  city  water-works  at  Philadelphia,  the  opening  of 

part  of  the  Erie  Canal,  the  introduction  of  anthracite 

coal,  the  beginning  of  stereotyping  and  printing  from 

stereotype  plates,  the  first  use  of  steam  power  applied 

to  cabinet  making  and  paper  making,  the  invention 

of  steel-plate  engraving,  the  first  transatlantic  packet   ^ 

line,   beginning   of  the  United   States    coast     survey,    ' 

first  steam  vessel  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  manufacture 

of  porcelain   and  patent  leather,   first  canned  goods, 

first  school  for  deaf  mutes,  at  Hartford,  the  invention 

of  the  sewing  machine,  the  organization  of  the  first 

peace  society  —  the   first   in   the  world  —  established 

in  New  York,  and  a  host  of  other  important  events. 

At   this   period    Connecticut   was    a    farming    and 

trading    community;     there    was    no    manufacturing 

except  that  of  coarse  goods  in  general  demand.     The 

larger  towns,  like  New  Haven,  Hartford,  New  London 

and  others,  were  collecting  and  distributing  centers. 

Through  the  country  roads  and  lanes  came  creaking 

wagons,  laden  with  wheat  and  peas  in  bags,  kiln-dried 

corn  in  barrels,  tierces  of  beef  and  pork,  tons  of  hay, 

baskets  of  beans,  onions,  potatoes  and  turnips,  firkins 

of  rich  butter,  great  cheeses,  cases  of  tobacco,  flour, 

corn  and  corn-meal.     Sometimes  the  big  wagons  were 

filled  with  lumber  or  piles  of  pipe-staves  of  spruce  or 

[22] 


BIRTHPLACE  OF  THE  .ETNA 


hickory-hoops  from  some  place  away  back  in  the  woods. 
Then  there  were  the  droves  of  horses  and  cattle  for 
the  plantations. 

These  processions  moved  picturesquely  townwards, 
for  there  were  no  prosaic  railroads  in  those  days. 
What  was  not  needed  for  local  use  was  loaded  at 
the  busy  docks  for  shipping  to  Martinique,  Barbadoes 
and  other  islands  in  the  West  Indies.  When  the 
vessels  came  back  after  their  long  perilous  trips  they 
brought  valuable  cargoes  of  rum,  sugar,  salt  or  molasses. 

The  West  India  trade  meant  much  to  the  people 
of  Hartford  in  these  early  days  —  more  indeed  than  a 
mere  lucrative  industry.  Many  of  the  young  men, 
energetic,  adventurous  and  anxious  to  make  their 
way  in  the  world,  entered  this  service.  Work  on  these 
clipper  ships  was  no  sinecure,  yet  it  was  splendid 
training.  The  open-air  life  under  trying  conditions 
made  them  strong  and  sturdy  in  body.  They  had  to 
be  prepared  for  any  responsibility  that  might  suddenly 
be  thrust  upon  them,  to  meet  emergencies  on  the 
instant,  to  have  courage  and  fearlessness;  the  life  not 
only  made  boys  sailors  but  made  them  men.  There 
was,  too,  the  tang  of  romance  in  their  contact  with 
the  civilization  and  manners  and  customs  of  the  West 
Indies,  so  different  from  their  own,  and  they  were  forced 
to  see  and  to  think  in  broader  terms  than  those  of 
merely  provincial  interests. 

There  was  still  much  of  the  pioneer  spirit  in  New 
England,  and  of  close  hand-to-hand  grappling  with 
the  problems  of  life.  There  was  hard  work,  with  little 
money  and  few  luxuries.     It  was  a  living  that  made  for 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


individuality  and  initiative,  and  a  fine  sane  sturdiness. 
There  was  no  machinery,  as  we  know  the  word  today; 
the  manufacturing  was  of  the  simplest,  and  the  spirit 
of  real  hand-craft  still  breathed  over  a  piece  of  work. 
If  a  man  built  a  boat  there  was  thoroughness  and 
solidity  in  every  plank  and  bolt,  if  a  house  it  could  be 
guaranteed  to  defy  time  and  the  weather  for  genera- 
tions; the  cooper  put  no  defective  stock  in  his  barrels 
and  the  blacksmith  made  sure  of  his  iron  before  he 
forged  it.  There  was  individual  work  and  individual 
responsibility.  The  communities  were  small,  and  every 
man  knew  every  other;  character  was  a  real  asset 
and  could  not  well  be  counterfeited. 

In  New  England  at  this  period,  was  the  only  real 
democracy  in  the  country;  there  the  people  truly  ruled. 
The  "town  meeting"  decided  matters  for  the  town; 
every  citizen  went  to  meeting,  knew  what  were  the 
issues  and  problems,  formed  his  own  opinion  and 
spoke  his  own  voice.  They  often  were  narrow  and 
bigoted  and  obstinate,  but  they  were  free  and  they 
gloried  in  their  freedom,  as  did  the  old  Greeks  in  Athens. 
The  schools  had  not  reached  the  elaborate  curricu- 
lum that  we  know  today;  but  the  small  amount 
taught  was  drilled  into  permanency  and  thorough- 
ness; it  tended  to  make  clear,  shrewd,  practical 
thinkers  rather  than  scholars.  The  New  Englanders 
were  not  stained-glass  saints,  but  they  were  men  of 
character,  strong,  sturdy,  individual,  and  with  a 
tinge  of  conservatism  that  made  their  progressiveness 
safe  and  sound. 

Hartford  was  then  a  town  of  about  6,900  people 

[24] 


BIRTHPLACE  OF  THE  ^TNA 


and  nine  hundred  dwelling  houses.  It  was  a  prosper- 
ous growing  young  city  of  culture  and  enterprise,  and 
stretched  along  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut  River. 
Grouped  near  the  river  were  the  importing  houses 
and  principal  business  places,  and  beyond  them  was 
what  real-estate  agents  today  like  to  term  "the  resi- 
dential section."  The  whipping-post  still  stood  in 
the  public  square,  the  Puritan  strain  of  religion  had 
not  quite  faded  out;  the  Sabbath  began  on  Saturday 
evening  at  sunset  and  ended  at  dusk  on  Sunday, 
when  the  freedom  of  week-day  activities  began, 
except  as  to  the  theatres,  which,  though  tolerated,  were 
not  considered  good-form. 

There  was  no  prohibition  noticeable  in  Hartford 
then,  for  it  would  have  had  hard  work  to  compete 
with  the  rum  from  Barbadoes  and  the  fine  wine  from 
Madeira.  Lotteries  still  were  popular  and  respectable 
and  were  legalized  by  charter.  Money  being  scarce, 
a  dollar  was  venerated  and  a  penny  treated  with 
respect,  and  not  permitted  to  wander  far  away  un- 
noticed; but,  perhaps  partly  because  of  this,  the  people 
were  in  the  main  scrupulously  honest  and  strict  in 
money  matters,  and  debt  was  considered  a  repre- 
hensible thing. 

The  newspapers  in  Hartford  at  this  period  devoted 
most  of  their  space  to  news  from  London  and  foreign 
countries,  extracts  from  other  papers,  and  little  essays 
on  morals,  public  and  private,  on  economy,  industry 
and  other  virtues.  There  was  little  or  no  local  news, 
perhaps  because  in  a  small  town  every  one  might  be 
supposed  to  know  the  news  anyhow.     Such  items  as 

[25] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


are  today  considered  of  personal,  social^  or  business 
interest,  were  then  paid  for  and  appeared  in  the  adver- 
tising columns. 

One  of  the  real  institutions  of  the  time  was  the 
coffee  house.  It  was  the  club  of  the  period;  a  place 
for  business  and  sociability,  one  where  public  prob- 
lems and  grievances  were  discussed  freely,  and  where 
plans  for  progressive  movements,  civic  and  commer- 
cial, could  be  made  in  an  atmosphere  conducive  to 
clear  thinking  and  free  expression.  One  of  the  most 
popular  of  these  houses  was  Morgan's  Exchange 
Coffee  House,  33-3 S  State  Street,  where  the  post- 
horses  of  the  stages  were  changed. 

Morgan's  was  a  centre  of  social  activities  too;  for 
here  was  held,  among  other  "functions,"  the  annual 
"election  ball,"  where  dancing  kept  up  to  an  early 
hour  and  the  receipts  for  liquid  refreshment  mounted 
high.  On  the  third  floor  was  the  dancing  hall,  with 
a  special  "spring  floor,"  and  recessed  seats  where  the 
beaux  and  belles  could  say  sweet  things  to  their  hearts' 
content.  The  splendors  of  the  room  were  enhanced 
by  heavy  hangings  at  the  windows,  and  a  large  oval 
gilt-framed  mirror  at  each  end  of  the  room.  There 
was  a  generous  space  for  the  musicians,  while  overhead 
were  three  chandeliers,  with  crystal  pendants,  appro- 
priately holding  numberless  wax  candles. 

Joseph  Morgan,  the  proprietor,  was  one  of  the 
important  men  of  the  town;  a  man  of  high  character, 
keen  mind  and  energy,  and  a  genius  for  finance  which 
he  handed  down  to  his  son,  Junius  Spencer  Morgan, 
the  great  London   banker,   and   to  his  grandson,   the 

[26] 


BIRTHPLACE  OF  THE  ^TNA 


famous  J.  Pierpont  Morgan.  Joseph  was  of  the 
third  generation  from  Miles  Morgan,  who,  with  his 
two  brothers,  James  and  John,  came  to  America  from 
Wales  in  1607.  Miles  settled  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  in 
1636,  and  had  four  sons,  Isaac,  Jonathan,  Nathaniel 
and  David.  Nathaniel  died  in  1773,  survived  by 
eight  children,  one  of  whom  was  Joseph,  the  father 
of  Joseph  of  Hartford,  who  was  born  in  North  Parish, 
West  Springfield,  on  January  4,  1780.  He  spent  his 
early  years  on  the  home  farm,  and  in  teaching  school 
for  several  winters  after  his  fifteenth  year.  In  1807 
he  married  Sally  Spencer  and  in  the  same  year  pur- 
chased for  ten  thousand  dollars  Asa  Goodenough's 
coach  line  and  tavern  on  the  west  side  of  the  green 
in  Westfield,  Mass.,  and  started  in  the  hotel  business 
there.  Six  years  later,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  he 
was  left  in  possession  of  a  farm  of  112  acres  and  other 
property  worth  eleven  thousand  dollars. 

In  November  18 16,  Morgan  bought  a  brick  house 
and  a  barn  on  the  north  side  of  State  Street  in  Hart- 
ford, and  on  New  Year's  Day  of  the  year  following  he 
opened  in  this  house  what  came  to  be  known  as 
Morgan's  Exchange  Coffee  House,  and  the  birthplace 
of  a  great  American  institution. 


[27] 


Chapter  III 

STARTING  A  GREAT  ENTERPRISE 

IN  the  early  days  of  1819,  there  was  a  subject  of 
spirited    discussion    at    Morgan's    Coffee    House, 
among  a  few  of  the  merchants  and  business  men 
of  Hartford,  that  seemed  but  a  trifle  of  irritation  at 
the  beginning,  but,  fanned  by  heated  protest,  burst 
into   a   flame   of  revolt.     The   first   Secretary   of   the 
Hartford  Fire  Insurance  Company  was  Walter  Mitchell, 
the  uncle  of  Donald  G.  Mitchell  of  New  Haven,  the 
beloved  "Ik  Marvel"  of  American  literature.     Walter 
Mitchell  was  a  handsome  looking  gentleman  with  a 
head  like   that  of  Daniel  Webster.     He   was   one   of 
the  legal  lights  of  the  tov/n  and  lived  in  Wethersfield, 
a  village  three  or  four  miles  out  of  Hartford.     Those 
who  wanted   to   take  out   a  policy   had   to  seek   Mr. 
Mitchell  and  at  whatever  hour  best  suited  his  con- 
venience.    He   had    a   habit   of  closing   his   office    at 
three  or  four  in  the  afternoons  and  on  Saturdays  at 
noon.     He   did   not   count   time   or   appointments    as 
serious  and  had  a  way,  too,  of  putting  off  till  tomorrow 
what  might  be  done  today. 

The  trip  out  to  Wethersfield  along  a  clayey  road, 
sometimes  swamped  by  rains  or  rutted   by   drought, 

[28] 


STARTING  A  GREAT  ENTERPRISE 


was  an  exasperating  journey  at  the  best,  and  many 
citizens  of  Hartford  made  this  trip  when  unable  to 
find  Mitchell  at  his  little  office  near  Ransom's  Inn, 
close  to  the  present  site  of  the  Hartford  Courant 
building.  Merchants  or  business  men  who  wanted 
insurance  did  not  relish  the  **Gone  for  the  day"  sign 
that  greeted  their  eyes  so  often  on  the  door  of  his 
office.  They  pooled  their  discontent  in  a  general 
protest  and  they  felt  that  something  radical  must 
be  done  to  mend  matters. 

The  leader  and  moving  spirit  in  the  revolt  was 
Thomas  K.  Brace,  who  proposed  the  organization  of 
a  new  fire  insurance  company.  Brace  knew  something 
of  the  business,  for  he  had  been  a  director  of  the  Hart- 
ford Fire  Insurance  Company  when  it  was  organized 
in  1810,  and  had  left  the  directorate  in  18 17  with 
David  Watkinson  and  Ward  Woodbridge.  He  was 
the  son  of  Jonathan  Brace,  Mayor  of  Hartford  from 
181 5  to  1824  and  was  graduated  from  Yale  College 
in  1 801  at  the  age  of  twenty-two.  He  was  now  the 
head  of  the  wholesale  grocery  and  commission  firm 
of  Thomas  K.  Brace  &  Co.,  who  were  also  agents 
for  a  line  of  packets  plying  between  Hartford  and 
Boston.  This  packet  line  was  established  immediately 
after  the  war  of  1812  and  consisted  of  five  topsail 
schooners  used  for  carrying  freight  and  passengers, 
said  to  be  very  handsome  boats  and  specially  fine  in 
their  furnishings  and  equipment. 

Mr.  Brace  was  described  as  having  rather  thin 
features,  high  forehead  and  firm  mouth  which  showed 
him   to   be   keen,   energetic   and   aggressive,   with   the 

1^91 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


courage  of  his  convictions,  an  excellent  executive  and 
the  type  of  man  that  puts  things  through.  He  was 
a  firm  believer  in  Hartford  and  its  future  and  ever 
backed  his  faith  by  his  actions.  Prominent  as  a 
merchant,  there  were  few  vital  activities  in  the  town 
in  which  his  hand  as  organizer  or  director  did  not 
appear.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Society 
of  Savings,  incorporated  in  1819,  and  also  interested 
in  the  promotion  of  the  x^merican  Asylum  for  the  Deaf 
and  Dumb  and  the  Retreat  for  the  Insane. 

Mr.  Brace's  regular  business  did  not  so  absorb  his 
boundless  energy  that  he  could  not  at  the  same  time 
be  a  Director  and  Vice-president  of  the  Phoenix  Bank, 
a  member  of  the  Common  Council,  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  Director  of  the  United  States  Branch  Bank, 
a  Member  of  the  Committee  to  Abate  Taxes  and  a 
few  other  things.  In  after  years  he  also  served  in 
the  Connecticut  Legislature,  as  Mayor  of  Hartford 
and  as  President  of  the  Hartford  County  Savings 
Bank. 

When  a  man  like  Thomas  K.  Brace  decided  that 
he  wanted  to  organize  a  new  insurance  company,  it 
was  a  safe  wager  that  he  would  put  it  through.  He 
associated  with  him,  in  the  preliminary  work  of  the 
practical  details,  Isaac  Perkins,  a  lawyer  who  had  his 
ofHce  in  Morgan's  Exchange  Coffee  House.  Perkins 
seems  to  have  been  an  active,  dependable,  hustling 
kind  of  man,  with  a  large  acquaintance  and  a  habit 
of  making  good  in  whatever  he  undertook.  There 
were  frequent  meetings  at  Morgan's  between  these 
two  and  other  prominent  men  of  the  town  who  were 

[30] 


STARTING  A  GREAT  ENTERPRISE 


interested,  and  they  finally  petitioned  the  Legislature 
for  a  charter. 

The  movement  for  a  new  fire  insurance  company 
was  not  limited  to  a  few  people,  nor  is  it  wholly  fair 
to  say  that  the  cause  of  the  organization  was  the 
Mitchell  episode  we  have  cited;  it  may  have  been 
merely  a  talking  point  to  focus  a  general,  diffused 
consciousness  of  a  real  need.  This  seems  to  be  proved 
by  the  wording  of  the  original  petition,  which,  because 
of  the  clearness  of  its  presentation,  its  conciseness 
and  the  occasional  quaintness  of  its  phrasing,  is  worth 
quoting  in  full: 

TO  THE  HONB.  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY  OF  THE 
STATE  OF  CONNECTICUT,  to  be  holden  at  Hartford  on  the 
first  Wednesday  of  May,  A.  D.  1819,  the  subscribers,  inhabitants 
of  said  State,  respectfully  represent  —  that  there  is  a  great 
deficiency  of  Fire  Insurance  Capital  in  this  State,  there  being  but 
four  offices  and  the  whole  amount  of  their  capital  but  six  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  It  is  also  believed  that  an  increase  of  capital 
would  tend  but  little  to  render  the  pubhc  safe  without  an  increased 
number  of  offices;  and  it  has  ever  been  found  expedient,  if  not 
necessary,  to  the  establishment  of  proper  premiums,  to  allow 
Insurance  Offices  to  take  risques  to  any  amount,  whilst  the 
stockholders  are  rendered  liable  only  to  the  amount  of  their 
capital.  From  this  principle  results  the  necessity,  for  the  safety 
of  the  assured,  of  multiplying  the  number  of  incorporations. 
Risques  will  be  effected  in  smaller  amounts,  and  the  customers  of 
each  office  being  spread  over  the  whole  state,  losses  by  an  extensive 
fire,  in  any  section,  will  fall  on  several  offices  and  be  less  likely 
to  render  them  unable  to  pay  to  the  sufferers  the  amount  of  their 
policies. 

It  is  presumed  that  each  of  the  existing  offices  have 
undertaken  risques  to  an  amount  greater  than  the  capital  of 
them  all,  and  should  a  conflagration  take  place,  in  some  of  our 
towns,  as  disastrous  as  has  been  experienced  in  many  places,  it  is 
greatly  to  be  feared  many  of  the  sufferers  would  too  late  discover 
their  insecurity.  It  is  also  a  well  known  fact  that  the  Insurance 
Offices  in  the  neighboring  states,  sensible  of  the  deficiency  of  our 

[31] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


Capital  of  this  kind,  not  only  maintain  agents  in  many  of  our 
towns  but  are  enabled,  so  great  are  the  calls  for  insurance,  to 
render  the  business  equally  profitable  with  those  companies 
which  have  been  empowered  by  your  Honors  —  W  hereiore  your 
Petitioners  prav  your  Honors  to  grant  to  them  and  their  associates 
an  Act  of  Incorporation,  with  all  powers  and  privileges  necessary 
and  convenient  to  the  business  of  insurance  against  losses  by 
pire,  —  and  your  Petitioners  as  in  duty  bound  will  ever  pray. 

Hartford,  April  19,  18 19. 

This  petition  was  signed  by  one  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  men,  leaders  in  the  business  and  social 
life  of  the  town,  and  included  in  this  list  were  the 
names  of  nearly  every  one  of  the  eighty-seven  original 
stockholders  of  the  new  company.     (See  Appendix.) 

The  first  sign  of  life  in  the  Legislature  on  the 
subject  of  the  incorporation  was  an  obscure  item, 
stowed  away  in  the  Hartford  Courant  of  May  18, 
18 19,  in  a  long  dry  account  of  the  session,  to  the  effect 
that  "Messrs.  Olcott,  Hitchcock  and  Griffin  were 
appointed  a  committee  on  the  petition  for  a  new 
Fire  Insurance  Company  in  this  city."  On  June  8, 
the  Courant  stated  that  *'A  bill  for  incorporating  a 
new  Fire  Insurance  Company  in  this  city,  was  read 
a  second  time  and  referred  to  a  committee  for  exami- 
nation." A  little  further  down  in  the  same  column 
were  the  words:  "The  following  acts  were  passed 
during  the  session  on  June  5:  No.  38 — An  act  to 
incorporate  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company." 

The  name  of  the  new  corporation,  for  some  reason 
not  given  in  the  petition,  was,  as  set  forth  in  the  title 
of  the  act,  to  be  the  ^tna,  happily  taken  from  the 
famous  old  mountain  of  that  name  on  the  east  coast 

[32] 


0*^ 


i- 


SECTION  OF  ORIGINAL  PETITION  ASKING  FOR  CHARTER  OF  THE 
^TNA   INSURANCE  COMPANY 


STARTING  A  GREAT  ENTERPRISE 

of  Sicily,  which  "though  surrounded  by  flame  and 
smoke  is  itself  never  consumed." 

In  this  modest  and  unostentatious  fashion  was 
ushered  into  American  life,  an  organization  which  was 
to  write  its  name  large  in  the  insurance  world  during 
the  circling  years  to  come.  The  capital  stock  was 
placed  at  $150,000  with  the  privilege  of  increasing  to 
$500,000.  It  was  not  necessary  for  the  full  amount 
of  the  minimum  capital,  though  subscribed,  to  be 
paid  in  at  once.  Custom,  at  first  due  to  the  small 
amount  of  money  circulating  because  of  the  poverty 
of  the  country,  made  it  possible  to  float  new  ventures 
on  a  small  initial  investment,  to  be  paid  a  few  weeks 
after  incorporation,  leaving  the  balance  in  the  form 
of  notes  properly  secured  by  property.  Sometimes 
these  notes  bore  interest,  sometimes  they  were  paid 
directly,  but  usually  they  were  lessened  and  finally 
canceled  by  special  dividends.  But  the  notes  always 
had  the  guarantee  behind  them  that  made  them 
collectible  and  safe  in  a  crisis. 

Subscribers  to  the  y^tna  stock  were  required  to 
pay  five  per  cent,  within  thirty  days  after  the  first 
meeting  of  the  corporation;  five  per  cent,  more  thirty 
days  later;  and  the  remaining  ninety  per  cent,  in 
promissory  notes,  secured  by  mortgages  on  real  estate 
or  by  other  surety  approved  by  the  President  and  the 
Directors,  and  payable  thirty  days  after  demand. 
Each  stockholder  was  entitled  to  one  vote  for  every 
share  up  to  fifty,  and  had  no  higher  voting  power 
no  matter  what  his  holdings.  Both  corporate  and 
personal  liabihty  were  limited  to  the  amount  of  the 

3  1 33] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


subscription.  It  was  further  stated  that  "for  mis- 
conduct or  fraud,  the  person  guilty  thereof  shall  be 
personally  liable  to  said  corporation,  or  to  the  insured, 
as  the  case  may  be." 

In  the  issues  of  June  8th  and  15th,  the  following 
advertisement  appeared  in  the   Courant: 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  having 
incorporated  the  &tm.  Insurance  Company  with  a  capital  of 
Ji 50,000  with  liberty  to  increase  the  same  to  $500,000,  for  the 
purpose  of  insuring  against  loss  or  damage  by  fire,  and  having 
authorized  the  subscriber  to  call  the  First  Meeting  of  the  Company, 
Notice  is  hereby  given  that  said  First  Meeting  will  be  holden 
at  Morgan's  Exchange  Coffee  House  in  this  city  of  Hartford, 
on  Tuesday  the  15th  inst.,  at  2  o'clock  p.  m.,  for  the  purpose  of 
organizing  under  the  charter  and  to  transact  other  necessary 
business. 

Gentlemen  desirous  of  obtaining  stock  are  requested  to 
apply  at  the  office  of  Isaac  Perkins,  Esq. 

Thomas  K.  Brace. 
June  8. 

On  Tuesday  the  15th  of  June,  18 19,  one  of  the 
large  rooms  at  Morgan's  was  filled  with  the  stockholders 
of  the  new  Company.  How  many  of  the  eighty-seven 
who  made  up  the  roll  of  the  original  stockholders  were 
present  is  not  given  in  the  records.  Promptly  at  two 
o'clock  the  first  meeting  was  called  to  order,  and  Mr. 
Brace  was  appointed  Moderator,  or  as  we  term  it 
today,  Chairman,  and  Isaac  Perkins  was  made  Clerk. 

In  a  few  earnest  words  Chairman  Brace  sketched 
the  conditions  that  had  led  to  the  organizing  of  the 
Company,  and  spoke  of  its  future.  He  believed  in  the 
future  of  Hartford,  in  the  splendid  body  of  stockholders 
present  at  this  launching  of  the  new  business;  the 
country  itself  was  growing  rapidly,  and  national  growth 

[34I 


STARTING  A  GREAT  ENTERPRISE 

meant  increase  in  population  and  in  wealth,  a  larger 
field  for  greater  needs.  Fire  insurance  was  a  real 
need;  they  had  part  of  the  increasing  business  in 
Hartford  as  their  possibility,  but  there  was  no  reason 
why  it  should  be  limited  to  Hartford  or  even  to  Connect- 
icut; it  could  spread  into  other  States.  This  would 
mean  broadened  business  and  a  safe  distribution  of 
risks.  Fire  insurance,  he  felt,  was  in  its  infancy; 
there  was  much  to  be  learned,  much  to  be  formulated 
and  redu:ed  to  system;  and  it  was  his  sincere  belief 
that  the  company  would  do  its  part  in  this  work. 

Mr.  Brace  also  emphasized  the  fact  that  the  busi- 
ness had  its  special  hazards,  but,  while  the  risks  were 
large,  the  success  could  be  correspondingly  great; 
few  lines  of  enterprise  were  so  absolutely  dependent 
on  the  character,  energy,  enterprise  and  tireless  devo- 
tion of  its  officers  as  a  company  engaged  in  lire  insurance, 
and  he  urged  those  present  earnestly  to  consider  this 
in  electing  their  Board  of  Directors.  The  business 
should  be  handled  with  conservatism  yet  in  a  spirit 
of  progress,  with  economy,  with  liberal  faith  toward 
those  insured,  with  strict  adherence  to  broad  funda- 
mentals of  principle,  an  avoidance  of  conflict  that 
might  reflect  on  the  honor  and  prestige  of  the  company, 
and  fine  co-operation  within  the  organization  that 
would  guarantee  success. 

His  straight-from-the-shoulder  talk  seemed  a  fore- 
shadowing of  the  great  future  of  the  Company.  It 
was  the  right  note,  and  it  won  instant  response  in  the 
election  of  the  first  Board  of  Directors.  Those  chosen 
were:     Thomas    K.    Brace,   Thomas    Belden,    Samuel 

[35] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


Tudor,  Jr.,  Henry  Kilbourn,  Eliphalet  Averill,  Henry 
Seymour,  Griffin  Stedman,  Gaius  Lyman,  Judah  Bliss, 
Caleb  Pond,  Nathaniel  Bunce,  Joseph  Morgan,  Jere- 
miah Brown,  James  M.  Goodwin,  Theodore  Pease, 
Elisha  Dodd  and  Charles  Babcock. 

An  account  of  the  first  meeting  of  the  new  directors, 
which  immediately  followed  that  of  the  stockholders, 
can  best  be  given  in  the  report  of  Secretary  Perkins, 
as  entered  by  him  in  the  original  Record  Book,  which 
is  still  carefully  preserved  in  the  vaults  of  the  Company: 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Directors  of  the  ^Etna  Insurance  Co.  at 
Morgan's  Coffee  House,  June  15,  A.  D.,  1819. 

Thomas  K.  Brace,  Esq.,  chosen  President. 

Isaac  Perkins,  Secretary. 

Voted:  That  the  business  of  the  Co.  shall  in  future  be  done 
at  the  office  of  Isaac  Perkins,  Esq. 

Voted:  That  Eliphalet  Averill,  Thomas  K.  Brace  &  Isaac 
Perkins,  Esq.,  be  a  committee  to  design  &  report  to  some  future 
meeting  of  the  board  an  engraving,  a  seal  &  a  form  of  Policy, 
stock  notes,  certificates,  etc.,  &  a  system  of  By-Laws. 

Voted:  That  the  two  first  installments  on  the  Stock  of  the 
Company  be  secured  by  notes  with  or  without  security. 

Voted:  That  the  form  of  notes  shall  be  similar  to  the  notes 
of  the  Hartford  Fire  Insurance  Office. 

Voted:  That  the  business  of  the  Office  shall  be  done  at  the 
Phcenix  Bank. 

Attest: 

Isaac  Perkins,  Secy. 

President  Brace  was  right  in  emphasizing  the 
importance  of  having  the  best  men  for  this  work. 
That  they  should  be  men  of  character  and  integrity 
goes  without  saying;  but  in  addition  it  was  essential, 
he  felt,  that  they  have  energy,  sound  business  judgment 
and  devotion.  Upon  them  devolved  the  task  of  the 
determination  of  all  risks  in   those  early  days  when 

[36] 


^;*i  i'/'>'ii'.!^y  >^  ./y  ^^'^  c^     ^iL*' 


oi^rt  ii*-  <..  c-'^.^yL. 


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^-'C-^*    /.y       y^ £iC>i^'^t^i.^d^ 


^   rVj'i    Z^        J7^y.j^ 


'ZC^-^^  ^^\^         £X^£-/  ,^rf^t--«.  j^j^«,iat.     ^-t-'/i^ t/-M^-Y~       ■-■^'■^  - 


6^/^^  <j/i/u..x^  ^y^T^jC*^    <*^ 


ORIGINAL  ENTRY  IN  OFFICIAL  RECORD  BOOK  GIVING  ACCOUNT  OF 

FIRST  MEETING  OF  INCORPORATORS  OF  THE  ^TNA 

INSURANCE  COMPANY  ON  JUNE  15,  1819 


STARTING  A  GREAT  ENTERPRISE 

fire  insurance  was  largely  guessing,  for  there  were 
neither  statistics  nor  precedents  of  value.  A  few 
blunders  might  readily  have  wrecked  the  Company 
in  the  period  of  its  infancy;  they  had  to  make  their 
decisions  on  sound  principle  rather  than  on  formulated 
rules.  A  brief  glance  at  the  record  of  the  personnel 
of  the  Board  is  therefore  of  interest.  They  were 
all  prominent  business  men  who  were  identified  with 
the  civic,  business  and  financial  institutions  of  Hartford. 

Thomas  Belden  was  a  merchant  and  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  first  Board  of  the  Farmers  and 
Mechanics   Bank  of  Hartford. 

Samuel  Tudor,  Jr.,  wholesale  drygoods  dealer,  and 
director  and  an  organizer  of  the  Phoenix  Bank. 

Henry  Kilbourn,  merchant,  inspector  of  roads, 
captain  of  a  Hartford  engine  company,  member  of 
the  Connecticut  General  Assembly,  director  of  Marine 
Insurance  Company  and  of  the  Hartford  Bank. 

Eliphalet  Averill,  merchant,  member  of  the  Fire 
Sack  Company,  organized  in  1818  for  the  purpose 
of  taking  charge  of  goods  at  fires,  director  of  the 
Phoenix  Bank  and  of  the  Farmers  and  Mechanics  Bank. 

Henry  Seymour,  merchant,  justice  of  the  peace, 
city  alderman  and  member  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  State. 

Griflfin  Stedman,  lumber  merchant  and  director 
of  the  Phoenix  Bank. 

Gaius  Lyman,  lumber  merchant  and  city  alderman. 

Judah  Bliss,  physician. 

Caleb  Pond,  stock  and  exchange  broker,  member 
of  the  Common  Council  and  of  the  Fire  Sack  Co. 

[37] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


Nathaniel  Bunce,  dealer  in  West  Indian  goods  and 

groceries. 

Jeremiah   Brown,   wholesale  grocer   and   dealer   in 

West  Indian  goods,  director  of  the  Phoenix  Bank  and 

of  the  Hartford  Marine  Insurance  Company. 

James  M.  Goodwin,  wholesale  grocer,  who  later 
became  secretary  of  the  ^tna. 

Charles  Babcock,  publisher  of  the  Hartford  Mercury 
and  a  member  of  the  Common  Council. 

Elisha  Dodd,  dry-goods  merchant,  active  in  local 
affairs  as  auditor  of  accounts,  rate  maker,  and  a 
member  of  the  committee  to  abate  taxes. 

Major  Theodore  Pease,  a  leading  merchant,  died 
in    August,    1 8 19,    before    the    iEtna    actually    began 

business. 

Ten  days  after  the  first  Directors'  meeting,  the 
by-laws  of  the  Company  were  adopted  and  the  com- 
mittee submitted  a  design  for  an  official  seal.  This 
device,  with  minor  changes  during  a  century  of  use, 
has  become  familiar  to  countless  thousands  in  every 
State  of  the  Union.  An  excellent  description  of  the 
seal,  with  an  enthusiastic  and  appreciative  interpre- 
tation of  its  symbolism,  was  given  in  1911  by  the 
"Insurance  Index": 

The  insignia  of  the  ^Etna  Insurance  Company,  of  Hartford, 
Conn.,  is  a  composite,  representing  strength,  energy,  defence, 
perpetuity,  justice,  protection,  safety,  security  and  progress  in 
fire  insurance  underwriting. 

The  sun  stands  for  strength,  physical  and  thermal.  He  is 
the  conserver,  maintainer  and  underwriter  of  all  things  visible, 
but  not  the  creator.  Like  the  iEtna,  he  shines  for  all.  He  is 
the  master  clock  of  the  universe,  and  without  him  nothing  that 
is  could  exist. 

The  burning  mountain  is  Mount  ^tna —  at  once  a  type  of 

I38] 


STARTING  A  GREAT  ENTERPRISE 

safety  and  combustion.  It  is  one  of  the  safety  valves  of  the  earth; 
a  natural  chimney  which  carries  off  the  gases  generated  by 
subterranean  caloric. 

The  sea  is  the  Mediterranean,  which  knows  no  tide,  and 
therefore,  like  the  JEtna,  has  no  ups  and  downs. 

The  shield  is  the  shield  of  Agamemnon  with  its  gules  argent 
on  a  white  field,  which  denotes  singleness  of  purpose,  dignity 
and  derring-do,  graces  which  add  lustre  and  glory  to  their  possessor. 
The  shield  is  also  an  emblem  of  defense,  not  defiance,  and  of 
protection,  vital  and  instant  when  needed. 

The  sword  means  that  the  ^tna  can  not  only  defend  itself 
against  the  total  depravity  of  inanimate  things,  but  that  sword 
and  shield  constitute  a  combination  of  invincible  protection.  The 
fact  that  the  sword  is  unsheathed  assures  the  thousands  insured 
by  the  company  that  the  ^tna  is  always  ready  to  defend  and 
protect  their  interests  from  destruction  by  the  common  enemy. 

The  two  rings  mean  perpetuity  in  fire  and  marine  insurance. 
The  -(Etna's  chain  is  perpetual  as  to  both  of  these  lines.  The 
rings,  therefore,  symbolize  an  all-round  institution,  compact  and 
cohesive,  gathering  strength  with  the  circling  years,  and  of  that 
infinite  variety  which  age  cannot  wither  nor  custom  stale. 

With  the  adoption  of  the  by-laws  and  the  accept- 
ance of  the  seal,  the  ^^tna  was  now  ready  to  start  on 
the  career  that  has  been  so  successful  and  so  important 
in  the  general  history  of  fire  insurance. 


[39] 


Chapter  IV 

BUILDING  FOR  THE  FUTURE 

IN  the  little  office  of  Secretary  Perkins,  with  its 
walls  well  covered  with  shelves  of  law-books, 
reports  and  dusty  pamphlets,  the  JEtna  Insurance 
Company  began  business  in  what  was  destined  to  be 
its  home  for  many  years.  There  was  no  expenditure 
for  fine  furnishings  and  extras.  It  was  like  taking 
desk-room  in  an  office  already  in  operation,  where 
things  are  to  be  accepted  as  they  are  without  any 
radical  change.  The  secretary  simply  cleared  up  the 
top  of  his  desk  a  little,  emptied  two  drawers  for  ^tna 
papers  and  records,  and  was  ready  for  work. 

When  the  Board  had  its  first  meeting  there,  ten 
days  after  its  organization,  the  first  business  to  dispose 
of  was  the  adoption  of  by-laws.  In  order  to  divide 
and  distribute  the  work  among  the  directors,  they 
were  arranged  in  four  groups  of  four  each;  each  group 
was  to  be  on  duty  for  one  month  at  a  time.  This  meant 
real  service  too,  for  the  director  in  those  days  had  a 
man-sized  job  on  his  hands.  He  had  to  examine  and 
survey  all  local  risks,  pass  upon  all  applications  sent  in 
by  the  various  agents,  visit  and  examine  agencies, 
attend  the  scenes  of  fires  and  adjust  losses;  in  short, 
the    early    fire    insurance    company    director    was    a 

[40I 


BUILDING  FOR  THE  FUTURE 


composite  of  the  director,  surveyor,  examiner,  auditor, 
investigator,  adjuster  and  special  agent  of  today. 
At  this  meeting,  also,  the  Directors  adopted  as  a  form  of 
policy  the  form  then  used  by  the  Merchants  Insurance 
Company  of  New  York,  with  such  additions  or  changes 
as  might  be  deemed  expedient. 

In  the  Courant  of  June  22  appeared  the  following 
notice  to  stock  subscribers: 

-^TNA  Insurance  Company 
The  stockholders  in  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company  are 
notified  that  the  ist  installment  of  $5.00  on  a  share  of  said  stock  is 
payable  on  Thursday,  July  1 5th,  at  which  time  or  before,  gentlemen 
are  requested  to  offer  security  for  the  other  installments  of  said 
stock,  agreeable  to  the  provisions  of  the  charter. 

Hartford,  June  20,  18 19.  Isaac  Perkins,  Sec'y. 

This  money  was  not  permitted  long  to  remain 
idle,  for  on  the  same  day  that  the  first  Installment  was 
due  the  Company  voted  to  make  Its  first  investment  In 
twenty  shares  of  the  stock  of  the  Connecticut  Branch 
of  the  United  States  Bank,  which  was  then  located  at 
MIddletown  but  which,  in  1824,  moved  to  Hartford. 
This  investment,  a  little  less  than  $2,000,  was  quickly 
followed  by  the  purchase  of  twenty-nine  shares  of  the 
stock  of  the  Phoenix  Bank  of  Hartford.  This  institu- 
tion was  the  official  depository  of  the  funds  of  the 
iEtna.  The  two  companies  had  many  directors  in 
common,  and  for  the  century  that  followed  the  cordial 
relations  between  the  two  corporations  were  unbroken. 

The  call  for  the  second  installment  of  five  percent., 
due  August  15th,  was  advertised  in  the  Courant  oi  ^vXy 
26,  and  in  the  same  Issue  appeared  the  first  advertise- 
ment   of    the    Company    soliciting  business.     It    was 

[41] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


three-quarters  of  a  column  in  length,  enumerated  the 
different  classes  of  hazards,  names  of  officers  and 
directors,  and  rates  of  premiums,  with  the  announce- 
ment that  the  company  would  be  open  for  business 
on  August  19th  and  every  day  thereafter  except 
Sunday.  Applicants  for  insurance  were  directed  to 
apply  at  Morgan's  Exchange  Coffee  House.  This 
advertisement  continued  through  successive  issues 
for  some  time. 

Secretary  Perkins'  heart  was  cheered  at  this  time 
by  the  vote  of  the  Directors  that  signers  of  notes  for 
stock  "shall  pay  to  the  Secretary  fifty  cents  for  his 
extra  trouble  if  they  fail  to  pay  their  notes  when  due," 
and  two  weeks  later  he  was  voted  sixty  dollars  for  his 
preliminary  work  in  the  organization  of  the  Company. 
On  the  14th  of  August,  on  the  death  of  Major  Theodore 
Pease,  one  of  the  directors,  Henry  L.  Ellsworth  was 
elected  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

Though  the  Company  had  advertised  August  19th 
as  the  date  upon  which  it  would  be  ready  to  transact 
business,  Joseph  Morgan  forestalled  the  opening  by 
two  days  by  taking  out  the  first  policy,  one  for  $6,000 
on  his  Coffee  House,  and  paid  the  premium  of  forty- 
five  dollars.  It  seemed  a  happy  omen  that  the  first 
business  should  come  from  one  who  was  to  remain 
for  so  long  a  devoted  friend  of  the  Company  and  worker 
in  its  interests,  and  the  first  member  of  four  generations 
of  Morgans  serving  as  directors.  The  next  three 
insurers  were  Frederick  Bangs  on  August  20th  and 
Samuel  Kellogg,  Jr.,  and  Thomas  S.  Williams  on  the 
day   following.     So   the  wheels  of  business   began   to 

[4^ 


yt- 


iii-stieet,  llailtoio, . 


Protection  ! 


40,00 


LOVES 

uality 


\c. 


.AS. 


PROPOSALS  FOR  INSUR- 
ANCE AGAINST  FIRE. 

THE  .-ETNA   INSURANCE  COMPANY 

(Office  at  Morg'an's  Exchanj^e  Coffee  House, 

HARTFORD,  CONNECTICL'X,) 

Willi  a  Capital  of 

S  150,000, 

With  liberty  of  increasing  it  lo  gaCO.OOO  in  Cash, 
Stocks,  endorsed  Notes,  and  Montages. 

THOMAS  K    BRACE,  President. 
ISAAC  PF.KKINS, Secretary. 
DIRECTORS 


r 

ec 


12tf 


^v  FILLING 

rranUd  oi 
%M  sale  in 
S^ ill,  at 


Caleb  Pond, 
Nathaniel  Runce, 
Joseph  MDrgan, 
.leremiah  Brown, 
Janrjes  M.  Goodwin, 
Henry  L   Kllswoith, 
Elisha  Dodd, 
Charles  Babcock, 


*>• 


Thomas  K.  Brace, 
Thomas  Kelden, 
Samuel  Tudor, jr. 
Henry  Kilht.ui-n, 
Eliphalet  Averill, 
Henry  Stymoiir, 
Griffin  Siedman, 
(i:;iub  Lvmun, 
Judah  Bliss, 


Classes  of  Hazards  and  Rales  of  An- 
nual Premiunis. 

'ST  CLASS.     Buildings  of  brick  or  stone, 
vitti  the,  slate,   oi  metal  ;   lUe   doors  n"- 
Solid   iron  ;    goods    not    hazar<' 
SilOO.     . 


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the  m»s 
I  lialiy  si' 
I  remuri' 

cessa 

I  lb 
I       1 

city 
1  woe 

th- 


REPRODUCTION  OF  THE  ETNA'S  FIRST  NEWSPAPER 
ADVERTISEMENT  ON  JULY  26,  1819 


BUILDING  FOR  THE  FUTURE 

turn  in  the  direction  of  its  future  great  success,  then 

unknown  in  the  keeping  of  the  years. 

The  country  at  this  time  began  to  feel  acutely  the 

pressure  of  bad  times  which  had  been  growing  worse 

for  months.     It  was  to  a  degree  a  back-wash  from  the 

money    tightness    in    England    and    to    a    degree    the 

extravagance  and  inflation  in  our  own  States.      Niles' 

Weekly    Register^   in   August,    1819,   put  the  situation 

graphically  in  a  few  words: 

From  all  parts  of  the  country  we  hear  of  severe  pressure  on 
men  in  business,  a  general  stagnation  in  trade  and  a  large  reduction 
in  the  price  of  staple  articles.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are  20,000 
persons  daily  seeking  work  in  Philadelphia,  10,000  in  New  York 
and  10,000  in  Baltimore, 

How  these  conditions  directly  affected  the  i^tna 
may  be  seen  in  this  brief  note: 

Isaac  Perkins,  Secretary  of  the      Hartford,  Sept.  27,  18 19. 
yEtna  Insurance  Company. 
Sir:     In   consequence    of    my  pecuniary  embarrassments   I 
hereby  resign  the  Presidency  of  your  Institution.    You  will  please 
notify  the  Gentlemen  Directors  that  the  office  is  vacant. 
I  am  sir,  respectfully 

Your  obd't  Sev't, 

Thomas  K.  Brace. 

There  was  more  real  feeling  beneath  these  few 
lines,  short  and  direct  almost  to  the  point  of  curtness, 
than  was  apparent  on  the  surface.  Mr.  Brace,  as  a 
wholesale  grocer  and  dealer  in  goods  from  the  West 
Indies,  had  suffered  severely  the  embargo  on  commerce 
during  the  years  of  the  war  of  18 12.  The  shipping 
of  New  England,  then  demoralized,  was  only  beginning 
to  recuperate;  but  with  the  storm  of  "bad  times," 
in  addition,  he  felt  fearful  of  the  outcome.  The 
iEtna  meant  much  to  him,  more  than  a  mere  invest- 

[43I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


ment;  it  was  largely  his  project  and  his  idea,  and  he 
had  dreamed  in  a  big  way  of  its  future.  Whatever  the 
fate  of  his  personal  fortunes,  he  did  not  wish  any 
failure  of  his  to  cloud  the  name  of  the  ^Etna  or  to  handi- 
cap its  progress.  So  he  resigned,  but  happily  he 
weathered  the  gale,  and,  though  out  of  the  Presidency 
of  the  Company  for  a  while,  he  returned  later,  so  that 
his  interim  of  retirement  seemed  only  a  vacation,  not 
a  breaking  off  in  the  continuity  of  his  service. 

Henry  Leavitt  Ellsworth  was  elected  second  presi- 
dent of  the  Company  to  succeed  Mr.  Brace.  He  was 
a  son  of  Oliver  Ellsworth,  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  and  twin  brother  of  William 
\V.,  and  was  born  on  November  lo,  1791.  He  was 
graduated  at  Yale  in  18 10.  He  studied  law  and  had 
been  practicing  his  profession  at  Windsor,  Connecticut, 
closing  out  his  business  there  to  move  to  Hartford 
in  June,  18 19,  and  had  been  in  town  only  about  three 
months  before  becoming  president  of  the  ^^tna. 

President  Ellsworth  wore  the  regulation  dress  of 
the' period,  which  is  worth  noting  as  contrasted  with 
our  present  more  sombre  garb.  His  black  broadcloth 
"cutaway"  coat  was  somewhat  similar  to  our  "evening 
coat"  though  not  so  close  fitting;  white  lace  ruffles 
for  cuffs  —  a  survival  of  the  colonial  dress;  green 
waistcoat,  soft  ruffled  shirt,  a  high  collar  which  came 
up  well  above  the  chin,  and  loosely-tied  black  bow 
tie,  made  up  his  costume,  and  he  wore  a  heavy  seal 
ring  and  seal  watch  fob. 

President  Ellsworth  resigned  from  his  office  in 
1 821,  though  he  continued  for  sixteen  years  a  director 

[44] 


BUILDING  FOR  THE  FUTURE 


of  the  Company.  In  1832  he  went  to  Arkansas  as 
Indian  Commissioner,  for  ten  years  was  head  of  the 
Patent  Office  at  Washington,  and  later,  as  United  States 
Land  Commissioner,  settled  at  Lafayette,  Indiana, 
where  he  became  one  of  the  largest  farmers  in  the 
West.  He  died  at  Fair  Haven,  Connecticut,  on 
December  27,  1858,  leaving  the  bulk  of  his  large 
estate  to  Yale  College;  the  will  was  contested  and  the 
matter  ended  in  a  compromise. 

William  W.  Ellsworth,  the  twin  brother,  practiced 
law  in  partnership  with  Thomas  S.  Williams,  who  was  a 
nephew  of  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  who  became  attorney  for  the 
i^tna  in  1826.  Mr.  Ellsworth  married  Emily,  daughter 
of  Noah  Webster,  who  in  1828  published  the  first 
edition  of  his  world-famous  dictionary.  In  1827  Mr. 
Ellsworth  was  made  a  Director  of  the  Company,  serv- 
ing for  eighteen  years,  and  two  years  later  was 
elected  its  first  General  Counsel.  He  held  this  position 
for  a  little  over  a  year  and  from  1838  to  1842  was 
Whig  Governor  of  Connecticut. 

In  the  fall  of  its  first  year,  the  Company  issued 
a  booklet  entitled  "Instructions  and  Explanations  for 
the  Use  and  Direction  of  the  Agents  of  the  ^tna 
Insurance  Company."  It  was  prepared  by  Secretary 
Perkins,  and  the  idea  that  inspired  it  was  later  adopted 
by  other  companies.  It  was  the  first  book  of  the  kind 
ever  published  by  an  insurance  company.  The 
Insurance  Register,  nearly  a  century  later,  said: 

As  far  back  as  September,  18 19,  the  Company  issued  a  book 
of  instructions  for  the  use  of  its  agents;    classifying  risks,  fixing 


[45I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


the  rate  of  each,  and  excluding  some  as  non-insurable.  It  insisted 
on  correct  surveys  as  serving  to  expose  frauds,  prevent  law  suits 
and  secure  truthfulness.  Buildings  and  fixtures  were  not  to  be 
estimated  above  their  actual  cash  value,  and  any  proposal  for 
more  was  of  itself  a  cause  of  suspicion;  the  rule,  however,  was 
not  to  be  enforced  against  merchandise  and  other  personal  property- 
liable  to  vary  in  kind  and  quantity.  The  insured  was  entitled 
to  no  more  than  the  value  of  the  property  proved  to  have  been 
destroyed.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  correctness  of 
the  rules  appearing  on  the  pages  of  this  little  book  —  (believed 
to  be  the  oldest  of  its  kind  in  the  country)  —  has  never  been 
successfully  assailed,  though  attempts  for  the  encouragement  of 
robbery  have  been  made  through  valued  policy  laws  and  other 
vain  schemes. 

The  ^tna  early  pinned  its  faith  to  the  building  of 
business  through  agents.  It  was  realized  at  the 
very  beginning  that  the  local  field,  shared  as  it  was 
with  another  company,  would  be  small,  and  that  it 
would  be  essential  to  stimulate  outside  business  through 
carefully  selected  agents.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  year 
Gurdon  Robins  of  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  and  a 
former  resident  of  Hartford,  was  appointed  the  first 
agent  in  the  South. 

In  October,  1819,  the  yEtna  assumed  all  outstanding 
risks  of  the  Middletown  Fire  Insurance  Company, 
founded  in  18 13.  These  risks,  aggregating  ^69,500, 
consisted  of  twenty-one  policies.  The  /Etna  put  up 
an  indemnity  bond  for  $200,000  and  received  a  total 
premium  of  $286.  This  was  the  first  known  case 
of  re-insurance,  which  has  now  reached  tremendous 
proportions  and  has  become  a  business  in  itself. 

In  the  evolution  of  re-insurance  the  phase  where 
one  company  took  over  all  the  risks  of  another  cor- 
poration was  followed  by  a  division  of  individual 
risks,  wherein  a  company  assuming  a  risk  higher  than 

[46] 


BUILDING  FOR  THE  FUTURE 

it  seemed  prudent  to  carry,  re-Insured  part  of  it  in 
some  other  company.  A  germ  of  this  later  develop- 
ment in  the  system  of  re-insurance  may  be  found  in  an 
instance  which  occurred  in  1821,  when  the  ^tna  re- 
ceived an  application  for  a  policy  for  1 15,000;  the 
Directors  decided  that  this  was  more  than  they  were 
willing  to  carry,  so  the  secretary  put  the  matter  before 
the  Hartford  Fire  Insurance  Company  and  it  was 
arranged  that  each  company  should  take  half  of  the 
1 1 5,000  risk.  This,  of  course,  was  not  re-insurance, 
but  it  was  a  groping  in  that  direction. 

In  October,  18 19,  there  appeared  in  the  Courant 
a  letter  signed  "Watchman,"  calling  attention  to  a 
recent  fire  and  saying:  "This  suggests  very  forcibly  the 
necessity  as  well  as  the  propriety  of  a  night  watch. 
Seasonable  attention  to  this  subject  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  the  welfare  of  this  place.  The  expense 
of  it  is  too  trifling  to  defeat  so  prudent  a  measure." 
This  matter  seems  to  have  been  taken  up  by  the  city 
authorities,  for  on  December  12,  the  Board  of  Directors 
of  the  yEtna  voted  to  pay  $12  to  the  night  wardens  of 
Hartford  for  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  night 
watch  of  the  city  for  the  ensuing  year. 

The  event  seems  trivial,  yet  it  was  important  as 
showing  the  dawning  of  recognition  by  fire  insurance 
companies  of  the  need  of  preventive  measures  to  safe- 
guard against  fires  occurring  at  all,  just  as  modern 
medical  practice  seeks  not  only  to  cure  disease  but  by 
proper  regulation  and  hygiene  to  prevent  it.  What- 
ever reduces  the  liability  of  fire  occurring,  or  lessens 
its  spread,  or  quickens  putting  it  out,  increases  pro- 

[47] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


tection  to  all  risks  and  lowers  premium  rates;  but 
greater  than  all,  it  is  an  invaluable  service  to  the 
community  in  the  preservation  of  life  and  property. 

It  was  perhaps  with  this  thought  in  mind,  that 
Secretary  Perkins  wrote  to  an  agent  at  Troy,  N.  Y., 
in  1820,  concerning  the  rate  of  premium  on  a  cotton 
mill,  stating  that  if  the  owners  kept  a  night  watchman 
on  the  premises  the  premium  would  be  one-half  of  one 
per  cent,  lower.  On  March  5,  1827,  the  Board  voted 
"that  in  consideration  of  an  agent's  service  in  securing 
a  fire  engine  for  Newcastle,  he  be  allowed,  in  addition 
to  his  regular  5%  commission  on  premiums,  3% 
commission  on  the  business  he  secures  during  the 
ensuing  year." 

About  this  time  and  later  the  Company  had  fre- 
quent calls  to  contribute  to  a  fpnd,  in  one  town  after 
another,  to  buy  hose,  or  an  engine,  or  some  other 
item  of  fire  paraphernalia.  An  occasional  contri- 
bution as  a  gift  might  be  pardoned,  but  when  requests 
came  thicker  and  faster  and  the  request  had  somehow 
the  atmosphere  of  a  demand,  the  Company  began  to 
chafe  under  the  obnoxious  system  and  finally  shut 
down  tight  on  the  whole  scheme.  They  rightly  held 
that  the  fire  department  of  a  town  is  essentially  a 
public  service  for  the  good  of  all  and  one  to  be  sus- 
tained by  the  town  itself.  All  these  reachings  out 
to  bettei  conditions  have  since  been  largely  stimulated 
by  the  work  of  local  boards  and  the  activities  of  the 
National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters. 

When,  on  December  15,  18 19,  the  iEtna  closed 
the  books  on  its  first  six  months  of  life,  though  only 

[48] 


BUILDING  FOR  THE  FUTURE 

its  fourth  of  actual  business,  the  directors  felt  that 
the  excess  of  receipts  over  expenses  justified  them  in 
declaring  a  dividend  of  ^900,  this  being  six  per  cent. 
on  the  1 1 5,000.  When  a  balance  was  struck  on  May 
31,  1820,  the  total  receipts  were  $3,646.42,  and  the 
total  expenditures,  exclusive  of  dividend,  were  $451.82. 
They  paid  no  enormous  salaries  in  those  days,  for 
Secretary  Perkins,  who  seemed  to  be  the  general 
active  mainspring  of  the  business,  received  only  $225 
for  his  six  months  of  service  and  the  rent  of  his  office. 
The  President  of  the  Company  received  no  pay  what- 
ever. Ezra  Colt,  the  Town  Clerk,  probably  felt  that 
the  $20  voted  to  him  for  recording  the  charter,  opening 
the  stock-ledger  and  for  et  ceteras  that  ran  into  con- 
siderable detail,  was  a  goodly  sum  to  get  all  at  once. 
Business  was  conducted  in  those  days  in  what 
would  seem  a  crude,  slow,  primitive  way.  The  letters 
were  all  carefully  written  out  with  a  quill  pen  and  then 
transcribed  in  one  of  the  old  letter-books,  not  by  a 
''process"  but  again  by  pen.  These  books,  jealously 
treasured  by  the  Company,  are  growing  yellow  at  the 
edges  of  the  pages,  and  the  writing  is  gradually  grow- 
ing fainter  and  more  difficult  to  decipher  in  places. 
The  handwriting  was  not  always  of  the  best,  and  this 
further  complicated  correspondence,  as  one  may  judge 
from  a  letter  written  by  Secretary  Perkins  to  an  agent 
in  which  he  said: 

I  notice  the  contents  of  your  favor  of  the  23rd  inst.  The 
name  of  our  President  is  Thomas  Kimberly  Brace.  You  will 
from  his  name  thus  written  at  length  understand  his  abbreviations. 
It  has  sometimes  been  made  a  question  of  our  Board  of  Directors 
which   writes   worst  —  mark,    worsts   not   best — and    they   have 

4  [49] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YR^RS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


with  great  iudement,  and  seriously,  decided  that  as  the  President 
never  makes  any  marks  found  in  the  Alphabet,  he  can  never 
mislead,  but  that  as  the  Secy.,  by  accident,  sometimes  does — 
the  President  does  not  write  best,  but  the  Secretary  does  write 
worst. 

In  the  early  correspondence  there  were  constant 
references  to  the  difficulty  of  sending  packages  of 
policies  to  agents  at  a  distance.  These  were  nearly 
always  sent  by  "private  conveyance"  and  had  to  be 
held  up  until  some  one  was  found  who  chanced  to  be 
traveling  in  the  direction  of  the  agent's  town.  In  a 
letter  to  Gurdon  Robins  of  Fayetteville,  North  Caro- 
hna,  Secretary  Perkins  wrote  on   February   5,   18*20: 

I  have  anxiously  looked  for  an  opportunity  to  remit  more 
blank  policies.  As  no  opportunity  direct  presents,  I  propose 
to  send  some  by  way  of  New  York  and  Wilmington,  if  you  can 
obtain  them  from  Wilmington,  and  will  direct  to  whose  care 
they  shall  be  sent. 

The  postal  rates  were  high  and  the  service  unsatis- 
factory. The  charge  ran  from  twelve  cents  for  letters 
within  a  radius  of  forty  miles,  up  to  thirty-seven  and 
one-half  cents  for  over  five  hundred  miles.  Early 
agents  were  remiss  in  the  matter  of  specifying  amounts 
on  buildings  and  contents  and  failed  to  supply  other 
details.  This  necessitated  more  correspondence  and 
long  irritating  delay.  There  was  not  a  single  mile 
of  railroad  in  the  United  States,  and  travel  was  by 
stage-coach  or  by  boat;  which  may  have  romance 
to  us  as  a  relic  of  bygone  days,  but  then  meant  dis- 
comfort and  slow  journeying. 

There  was  no  fine,  steel  safe  in  the  office  of  the 
ittna,  for  the  records  were  all  kept  in  an  old,  hair- 
covered  trunk  which  remained  the  "safe"  for  the  first 

[50] 


BUILDING  FOR  THE  FUTURE 

nine  years  of  the  Company's  business.  On  January  i, 
1828,  the  Board  of  Directors,  waking  up  to  the  need 
of  fire  protection  for  their  own  records,  voted  "that 
hereafter  the  small  trunk  containing  the  stock  securities 
and  notes  belonging  to  the  Company  be  kept  in  the 
Phoenix  Bank  and  in  no  case  be  permitted  to  remain 
in  the  office  over-night."  These  were  some  of  the 
smaller,  though  none  the  less  trying,  phases  of  con- 
ducting the  business  during  its  early  years. 

The  Board  of  Directors  was  proceeding  most 
conservatively,  taking  no  unnecessary  or  unsafe  hazards 
in  its  policies  nor  in  the  expenditures  and  in  the  general 
conduct  of  the  Company.  While  rates  of  premiums 
were  specified  in  the  policy,  agents  were  instructed 
to  vary  rates  according  to  location  or  character  of 
construction,  and  largely  to  use  their  own  discretion. 
At  the  same  time  they  were  instructed  to  send  a 
complete  survey  of  each  proposed  risk,  on  which  the 
i^tna  directors  passed.  The  limit  of  risk  to  agents 
was  $5,000.  In  February,  1820,  the  Board  voted  that 
the  Company  would  not  insure  any  amount  exceeding 
5io,ooo  on  any  single  risk,  other  than  for  policies 
already  issued,  "except  by  unanimous  vote  of  the 
Board,  and  for  this  purpose  a  quorum  shall  not  be 
less  than  nine." 

It  was  characteristic  of  Perkins  to  write  good 
"selling"  letters  to  the  agents;  he  kept  in  close  personal 
touch  with  them,  dropping  in  a  word  of  encouragement 
here  or  of  inspiration  or  counsel  there,  ever  emphasizing 
the  basic  principles  and  policies  of  the  company, 
advising  in  favor  of  distributing  risks  and  of  watching 

I51] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


the  character  of  applicants  for  insurance,  booming 
the  standing  of  the  officers  of  the  Company  and  the 
soundness,  safeness  and  solidity  of  the  ^Etna.  There 
was  a  fine  spirit  breathed  through  it  all,  and  he  never 
lost  an  opportunity  to  make  his  own  confidence  and 
enthusiasm  contagious. 

On  May  5,  1820,  the  Board  voted  to  petition  the 
General  Assembly  for  a  charter  amendment  to  permit 
the  writing  of  life  insurance,  and  on  May  26  this  was 
granted.  Though  the  Board  voted  to  issue  $50,000 
additional  stock  to  be  set  aside  as  a  separate  fund  for 
life  insurance,  no  further  action  was  taken  in  this 
direction  until  the  middle  of  the  century.  The  second 
dividend,  12  per  cent,  on  the  amount  paid  in,  was 
voted  June,  1820,  and  six  months  later  the  third 
dividend,  of  15  per  cent.,  was  declared.  In  September 
of  this  year.  Secretary  Perkins,  who  had  now  been 
made  a  member  of  the  Board,  fell  dangerously  ill  with 
typhoid  fever,  and  James  M.  Goodwin,  a  director, 
acted  for  some  weeks  as  secretary  pro  tem. 

A  long  letter  written  in  November,  1820,  by  the 
Secretary,  to  an  agent,  contains  two  or  three  sentences 
worth  quoting,  as  showing  the  principles  and  practices 
of  the  Company: 

The  i^tna  Company  do  indeed  consider  the  practice  of 
older  and  well  regulated  companies  and  endeavor  to  derive 
instructions  from  their  greater  experience.  The  Board  of  Directors 
disclaim  all  interference  with  other  companies,  or  underbidding 
upon  their  premiums.  A  fair  competition  is  all  we  aim  at,  and 
rely  on  our  economy,  prudence  and  liberality  for  success. 

Further  on  in  the  same  letter  he  states  that  the 
Board   of  Directors   consists   of  seventeen    members, 

[52] 


^iteir'HENRY  L.ELLSWORTH  "^ 


1819    PRESIDENT-  182 


^ 


BUILDING  FOR  THE  FUTURE 

most  of  them  from  among  the  largest  stockholders, 
all  within  a  few  minutes'  walk  of  the  office,  and  whose 
attention  to  the  business  is  assiduous.  One  of  the 
important  regulations,  he  says,  is  "refusing  to  vest 
the  funds  of  the  company  in  large  sums  in  the  hands 
of  individuals,  however  perfect  the  security,  or  in 
small  sums  except  on  ample  security,  and  payable 
in  sixty  days.  It  is  also  a  primary  consideration 
with  them  to  distribute  their  risks  in  such  a  manner 
that  any  single  fire,  though  extensive  as  any  that  has 
desolated  our  cities,  would  not  destroy  the  Company." 

As  to  the  financial  solidity  of  the  corporation, 
he  says:  *'The  capital  stock  of  the  i^tna  Insurance 
Company  is  $150,000,  of  which  90  per  cent,  is  secured 
by  notes,  with  mortgage  or  personal  security,  payable 
in  thirty  days  after  demand,  and  by  the  terms  of  our 
charter  the  stock  is  pledged  to  the  surety  and  to  the 
Company.  No  person,  therefore,  can  transfer  his 
stock  while  indebted  to  the  Company.  These  notes 
are  constantly  under  the  eye  of  the  Secretary  and  are 
reviewed  by  the  Directors  every  sixty  days.  There 
is  now  not  a  doubted  debtor  to  the  Company.  With 
the  exception  of  one  instance  there  is  not  a  stock- 
holder that  owns  over  fifty  shares  (shares  are  $100)." 

The  Board,  at  all  times,  carefully  scrutinized  all 
risks  and  watched  zealously  every  expenditure.  The 
success  of  the  Company  was  not  due  to  luck  or  chance; 
it  was  the  natural  result  of  character  and  brains  con- 
centrated on  every  problem,  judging  each,  not  by 
hard,  unchangeable  rules,  but  on  its  individual  merits. 
This   was   shown   when   in   May,    1821,   the   agent   at 

[53] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


Providence  made  application  for  a  policy  for  $17,000. 
There  was  a  buzz  of  excitement  and  an  air  of  earnest 
discussion  and  debate  round  the  Directors'  table  the 
day  that  application  was  before  the  meeting.  It  did 
seem  like  putting  a  good  many  eggs  in  one  basket, 
but  much  could  be  said,  too,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
question.  The  matter  was  threshed  out  to  a  finish; 
the  Board  finally  decided  to  take  the  plunge  into 
higher  risks,  and  the  nine  Directors,  to  a  man,  voted 
in  favor  of  it. 

President  Ellsworth,  who  could  not  spare  as  much 
time  from  his  personal  affairs  as  the  demands  of  the 
iEtna  required,  and  who  may  have  felt  his  presidency 
as  an  interim-filling  of  a  vacancy  caused  by  the  business 
pressure  on  Thomas  K.  Brace,  resigned  on  March  6, 
1821,  and  Mr.  Brace,  who  had  come  bravely  through 
the  national  financial  storm,  was  re-elected  President. 
He  seemed  really  glad  to  be  back  in  the  harness;  he 
started  in  with  the  glow  of  enthusiasm,  and  spoke 
much  of  the  glorious  future  in  store  for  the  Company. 
The  Directors  felt  that  the  foundations  had  been  laid 
on  the  lines  of  solid,  true  principles,  that  real  progress 
was  now  to  begin,  and  that  they  were  all  prepared  to 
work  with  zeal  to  make  their  great  vision  a    reality. 


I  54] 


Chapter  V 

THE  .ETNA  BEGINS  TO  SPREAD 

IT  really  seems  at  times  that  just  when  we  are 
feeling  elated  and  grateful  that  things  are  running 
along  so  smoothly  we  bump  into  some  little 
snag  that  disconcerts  us  a  bit.  It  may  not  amount 
to  much  after  all,  but  it  serves  to  remind  us  that  we 
are  human  and  that  sunshine  is  transitory,  not  per- 
petual. Thus  it  was  with  the  ^Etna.  The  Company, 
which  was  now  twenty-three  months  old,  seemed  to 
have  led  a  charmed  life  in  its  immunity  from  losses; 
it  seemed  too  good  to  be  true;  it  was  like  running  a 
fire-proof  fire  insurance  business.  Secretary  Perkins 
rubbed  his  hands  together  with  glee  when  he  wrote 
on  March  17,  1821,  to  one  of  the  agents:  "Truly 
you  may  say  the  Company  is  prosperous.  It  is  two 
years  next  May  since  they  were  chartered,  and  no 
loss  of  any  kind,  except  a  two-dollar  counterfeit  bill, 
has  occurred." 

Whether  it  was  that  Perkins'  premature  joy  broke 
the  spell,  or  that  a  fire  was  bound  to  take  place  some 
time,  will  never  be  definitely  known,  but  the  two 
years  were  destined  not  to  be  completed.  The  first 
fire  loss  occurred  in  May,  1821.     It  was  on  the  store  of 

[55] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


Shepherd  &  Co.  of  Northfield,  Massachusetts.  The 
amount  was  ^4,000,  but  Perkins  faced  disaster  as 
smilingly  as  he  had  met  prosperity,  for  he  referred^  to 
the  mishap  with  airy  nonchalance  in  a  letter  in  which 
he  said:  "Four  thousand  dollars  loss  is  no  great  affair, 
nor  in  fact  is  it  any  more  loss  than  the  lava  of  yEtna 
is  when  it  runs  down  upon  the  shepherds."  This 
was  the  greatest  loss  until  1824,  when  $10,000  was 
paid  on  the  burning  of  a  steam  sawmill  at  Darien, 
Georgia.  The  year  following  saw  two  fires  in  Provi- 
dence in  November,  which  consumed  over  |^  15,000 
of  the  Company's  money. 

The  JEtnd.,  while  having  strong  confidence  in  the 
power  of  agents  to  build  up  the  business,  did  not  scorn 
the  power  of  printer's  ink.  Agents  were  permitted 
to  advertise  at  their  discretion  and  the  Company  paid 
the  bills.  The  agents  were  urged  to  be  as  liberal  as 
possible  to  all  insurers  and  to  endorse  permission  to 
them  to  do  certain  things  not  specified  in  the  contract, 
wherever  they  seemed  reasonable  and  when  consistent 
with  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  policy. 

New  inventions,  relating  to  lighting  and  heating, 
might  affect  policies  for  better  or  worse,  and  the  i^tna 
Directors  felt  they  should  be  consulted  if  the  innova- 
tion modified  the  contract  in  the  least.  In  1826 
kerosene  was  first  used  as  an  illuminant;  the  year 
following  the  manufacture  of  fire  brick  was  begun  at 
Baltimore;  and  in  1829  friction  matches  were  first 
used  —  all  elements  in  considering  risks. 

As  an  instance  of  the  modifying  of  a  policy,  it 
might   be    that    a   progressive    tenant    or   owner   had 

I56] 


THE  yETNA  BEGINS  TO  SPREAD 


desired  to  put  stoves  in  his  house  when  his  contract 
with  the  Company  specified  "fireplaces,"  and  in  one 
such  case  the  Secretary  wrote: 

When  stoves  were  first  introduced  they  were  looked  upon 
as  much  increasing  the  risk,  but  this  opinion  has  now  passed  away 
and  our  officers  consider  them  as  no  more  hazardous  than 
fireplaces;  still  it  is  perhaps  best  for  the  insurers  and  the  insured, 
in  order  to  avoid  the  possibility  of  a  misunderstanding,  to  mention 
stoves,  when  they  are  used,  in  the  survey. 

The  Company's  watchfulness  in  the  matter  of 
finances  was  shown  in  every  detail  of  the  conduct  of 
the  organization.  The  salary  list  was  limited  to  the 
Secretary  and  a  clerk,  who  was  also  Clerk  of  the 
Town,  and  who  seems  only  to  have  helped  6ut  in 
emergenci^,  for  which  service  he  was  paid  forty  dollars 
a  year.  The  President  received  no  pay  until  December, 
1 821,  when  it  was  voted  to  pay  Thomas  K.  Brace 
fifty  dollars  salary  for  the  six  months  preceding. 

The  Directors  were  cautious,  conservative,  feeling 
their  way  in  the  hazardous  uncharted  sea  of  risks  and 
rates.  They  felt  the  need  of  collecting  data  and 
statistics  on  which  to  base  an  intelligent  method  of 
writing  insurance.  The  first  real  move  in  this  direction 
was  the  request  made  to  the  Secretary  to  register 
in  a  blank  book  all  losses  by  fire  he  should  chance  to 
note,  designating  the  place,  the  kind  of  property, 
the  loss,  and  whatever  details  might  seem  necessary; 
and  for  this  service  an  extra  compensation  was  prom- 
ised him.  He  was  requested  to  subscribe  for  one 
New  York  and  one  Boston  paper,  and  to  purchase  a 
gazetteer  to  aid  him  in  the  work.  This  might  well  be 
the  beginning  of  what  is   now  an   elaborate  system, 

[57I 


ONE  PRJNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


which   has   placed   fire   insurance   underwriting   on    a 
more  or  less  scientific  basis. 

Prior  to  the  entry  of  the  JEtna.  into  the  field,  the 
practice  of  the  few  American  companies  in  operation 
was  to  confine  their  efforts  almost  entirely  to  such 
local  business  as  could  be  secured  by  the  executive 
officers.  In  the  very  beginning,  however,  the  JEtna. 
inaugurated  a  policy,  then  regarded  as  radical  and 
revolutionary,  of  planting  agencies  far  afield  and 
of  entrusting  its  agents  with  discretionary  powers  and 
authority  theretofore  jealously  reserved  to  officials 
and  Directors  at  the  Home  Office. 

In  March,  1822,  Secretary  Perkins  was  sent  on 
what  was  then  considered  a  long  trip,  to  Norfolk, 
Virginia,  to  adjust  and  settle  a  loss  by  fire  on  the 
woolen  factory  of  Earl  P.  Pease.  This  was  the  first 
journey  of  a  Company  official  to  adjust  losses.  On  his 
return  he  was  requested  "to  journey  on  the  seaboard 
of  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire  and  Maine,  and 
from  there,  through  the  interior  of  the  country,  home, 
and  establish  agencies;  and  for  his  services  he  shall  be 
allowed  his  expenses  and  two  dollars  a  day."  This 
per  diem  allowance  was  not  in  addition  to  salary, 
but  took  its  place. 

The  success  of  this  trip  led,  three  years  later,  in 
October,  1825,  to  the  bolder  action  of  the  Board  of 
Directors,  authorizing  the  President  and  the  Secretary 
to  employ  a  suitable  person  to  travel  through  Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Missouri  and  the 
southern  states  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  agencies. 
William  L.  Perkins,  of  Ashford,  Connecticut,  who  had 

[58I 


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PAGE  FROM  CORRESPONDENCE  BOOK  No.  1 
LETTER  AT  TOP  RECORDS  PAYMENT  OF  THE  ETNA'S  FIRST  FIRE  LOSS 


THE  ^TNA  BEGINS  TO  SPREAD 


been  serving  as  local  agent  there,  was  appointed; 
therefore  he  might  properly  be  called  the  first  Special 
Agent  of  the  Company. 

In  line  with  its  policy  of  extending  its  agency 
business  and  thus  securing  a  greater  distribution  of  its 
risks,  the  iEtna  had  early  entered  the  Canadian  field; 
having,  on  December  22,  1821,  appointed  Abijah 
Bigelow  agent  at  Montreal.  The  first  loss  there  was 
on  a  building  occupied  by  Holt  &  Co.,  which  was 
destroyed  by  fire  caused  by  gunpowder  stored  on  the 
premises.  In  this  connection  an  incident  occurred 
which  showed  the  spirit  inspiring  the  ^tna,  and  also 
how  important  a  factor  in  the  early  success  of  the 
company  was  Secretary  Perkins,  and  how  cordially 
the  Board  bowed  to  his  judgment. 

On  April  23,  1822,  President  Brace,  in  a  letter  to 
Bigelow,  advised  him  to  dispute  the  claim  and  to 
contest  it  in  court.  He  left  to  Bigelow  freedom  of 
action,  but  it  was  clear  that  in  his  honest  indignation 
he  felt  a  contest  was  fair.  He  would  never  consent 
"that  any  honest  sufferer  insured  in  the  JEtnsL  should," 
as  he  expressed  it,  "be  choused  out  of  a  just  claim 
by  a  subterfuge  or  mere  legal  lack."  But  in  this 
case  the  powdery  he  pointed  out,  was  the  sole  cause 
of  the  destruction,  and  "as  we  took  no  premium  on 
this  extra  hazard,  we  cannot  think  that  justice  or 
equity  requires  us  to  pay  the  loss."  There  was  a 
postscript  to  this  letter  which  read,  "Isaac  Perkins, 
Esq.,  left  town  yesterday  on  a  journey.  Thomas  C. 
Perkins  is  appointed  Secretary  pro  tem." 


[59] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


About  three  weeks  later,  on  May  15,  the  Secretary- 
pro  tern,  wrote  to  BIgelow  as  follows: 

At  the  date  of  our  President's  communication  to  you, 
our  Secretary,  to  whose  sole  judgment  the  Directors  had 
submitted  the  settlement  of  Holt  &  Co.'s  loss,  was  absent  on  a 
journey,  from  which  he  has  not  yet  returned,  and  it  is  only 
within  a  day  or  two  that  I  have  been  able  to  hear  from  him  and 
learn  his  views  of  the  subject. 

He  is  decidedly  of  opinion  that  a  lawsuit  is  to  be  avoided 
unless  the  case  is  beyond  all  question  in  our  favor.  To  gain  the 
reputation  of  a  litigious  office  would  be  death  to  our  success, 
and  even  if  law  and  equity  were  clearly  in  our  favor  the  mere 
fact  that  we  had  disputed  a  loss  must  to  some  extent  iix  upon 
us  that  character. 

You  will  therefore  consider  it  as  the  earnest  wish  of  the 
Directors  that  a  lawsuit  may  be  avoided  and  the  matter  amicably 
adjusted,  and  particularly  that  the  loss  should  be  paid  unless  on 
investigation  you  are  satisfied  that  you  can  demonstrate  to  the 
Court  not  only  that  the  conditions  of  the  Policy  have  been 
violated,  but  also  that  the  insured  either  fraudulently  caused 
the  fire,  or  wilfully  &  understandingly  deviated  from  the 
conditions  of  the  policy  to  the  enhancement  of  the  risk. 
Respectfully  your  Obt.  Servt., 

Thos,  C.  Perkins,  Secy,  pro  tem. 

The  incident  was  closed  a  few  weeks  later  when 
the  case  was  settled  without  litigation  for  a  little  over 
four  hundred  dollars.  But  the  ^tna  learned  its  lesson 
too,  for  some  months  afterward  when  new  blanks  were 
sent  to  Bigelow,  they  were  accompanied  by  a  signifi- 
cant little  note  to  the  effect  "that  the  principal 
difference  in  the  blanks  from  those  which  you  have 
had,  consists  in  the  direction  that  powder  is  not  insur- 
able and  that  over-valuation  by  the  insured  shall 
render  void  the  policy.  These  alterations  require  no 
comment." 

Though  the  Company  consistently  avoided  liti- 
gation, it  had  no  fear  of  it  and  did  not  hesitate  to 

[60] 


THE  /ETNA  BEGINS  TO  SPREAD 


dispute  claims  in  which  fraud  was  strongly  suspected. 
One  of  the  first  of  such  cases  occurred  in  connection 
with  the  claim  of  one  Flanders  in  1823,  when  the 
attitude  of  the  JEtna  was  completely  vindicated  by  a 
verdict  in  its  favor  on  the  ground  of  fraud. 

The  growing  needs  of  the  Company  at  this  time 
demanded  more  capital;  but  it  was  also  realized  that 
fresh  blood  would  be  helpful  too,  and  would  tend  to 
lessen  the  likelihood  of  getting  into  a  rut  or  of  having 
the  weight  of  a  rapidly  increasing  business  bear 
unduly  on  the  shoulders  of  a  few  men.  When  it 
was  decided,  therefore,  in  1822,  to  increase  the  capital 
stock  from  ^150,000  to  $200,000,  it  was  provided 
that  the  new  stock  should  not  be  offered  to  the  existing 
stockholders,  but  sold,  so  far  as  possible,  with  a  view 
to  interesting  new  people  in  the  Company.  The 
corporation  was  moving  ahead  on  such  safe  and  solid 
financial  lines  that  the  stock  was  offered,  not  at  par, 
but  at  a  premium  of  five  per  cent.;  fifteen  dollars  to 
be  paid  in  cash  on  each  share,  and  the  balance,  ninety 
dollars,  in  well  secured  notes. 

In  the  correspondence  with  agents  as  given  in 
the  yellowed  and  faded  old  letter-books  which  form 
so  valuable  a  part  of  the  archives  of  the  y^tna,  there 
was  no  let-up  in  the  constant  iteration  and  reiteration 
of  the  principles  and  policies  which  were  making  the 
business  so  successful.  These  talks  on  paper,  not  for?n 
letters,  but  close  intimate  explanations,  put  the  agents 
in  close  touch  with  the  home  office,  no  matter  how 
far  removed  in  mere  mileage.  They  furnished  argu- 
ments   to    be    used    with    prospective    customers    or 

[61] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


applicants  for   insurance,    though    this   was  never   so 

stated. 

Here  is  a  characteristic  bit  from  one  of  Perkins' 
letters  about  this  time,  explaining  the  Company's 
policy  of  distributing  its  risks: 

I  conceive  that  office  is  safest  which,  having  its  risks  duly- 
dispersed,  does  the  most  business  —  if  the  business  to  a  given 
extent  is  deemed  profitable,  the  profits  of  further  business  must 
undoubtedly  be  considered  a  guarantee  of  the  funds  of  the  Co. 
Note,  the  argument  for  extension  rests  on  the  proper  location 
of  risks  —  if  an  office  with  a  million  of  capital  should  insure  to 
the  amount  on  every  building  in  a  compact  part  of  Philadelphia, 
its  exposure  to  ruin  would  be  much  greater  than  that  of  our  Office 
with  a  capital  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  insuring  ^100,000 
in  each  of  ten  towns.  The  disparity  of  these  examples  is  great, 
&  almost  forces  the  conclusion  that  the  system  of  doing  business 
is  of  more  importance  to  the  insured  than  the  magnitude  of  the 
capital;  in  the  one  case,  with  an  increased  business,  millions  may 
be  exposed  to  a  single  conflagration;  in  the  other  case,  it  is  not 
in  the  experience  of  any  man  that  the  whole  capital  of  j2oo,cxx) 
would  be  lost. 

The  business  of  the  ^tna  Co.  is  scattered  throughout  the 
United  States  &  the  Canadas.  Thus  the  risks  being  detached, 
the  losses  come  singly  upon  us,  &  tho  it  is  possible  it  is  incredible 
to  suppose  we  shall  at  one  period  incur  so  many  losses  as  to 
endanger  the  existence  of  the  Co. 

These  remarks  are  not  intended  to  discredit  other  offices  — 
necessity  or  rather  the  want  of  business  at  home,  compelled  us 
to  take  a  wide  range  —  a  range  unknown  to  any  other  American 
office,  &  now  experience  &  reflection  concur  to  convince  us  that 
the  course  we  pursue  makes  assurance  doubly  sure,  not  only 
to  the  insured  but  also  to  the  stockholders  of  the  Co. 

When  Lafayette  made  his  memorable  visit  to 
Hartford  in  1824,  and  the  city  went  wild  to  do  him 
honor,  there  was  ringing  of  bells,  booming  of  cannon, 
fine  street  decorations,  a  parade  of  eight  hundred  school 
children  who  strewed  the  General's  pathway  with 
flowers,  a  review  of  the  troops,  and  music  and  feasting 

[62] 


THE  /ETNA  BEGINS  TO  SPREAD 


without  Stint.  Prominent  among  organizers  of  the 
great  festivities  were  members  of  the  Board  of  Direc- 
tors of  the  /Etna.  There  were  Henry  L.  Ellsworth — 
one  of  the  two  men  deputed  to  meet  Lafayette  at  the 
State  line  and  to  bring  him,  with  a  military  escort, 
to  the  city  —  Gaius  Lyman,  James  M.  Goodwin, 
Henry  Kilbourn  and  Charles  Babcock. 

One  of  the  policies  of  the  time  that  had  a  senti- 
mental interest  and  historic  association  was  one  issued 
by  the  i^tna  in  1825  on  Yale  College,  for  the  sum  of 
twenty  thousand  dollars.  By  its  terms  the  policy  was 
always  to  be  continued  in  force,  the  Company  being 
authorized  to  draw  on  the  Treasurer  of  the  college 
for  the  premium  each  year  when  it  became  due.  It 
was  provided  that  should  either  the  insured  or  the 
insurer  desire  to  cancel  the  contract,  it  was  necessary 
to  give  six  months'  notice.  The  policy  was  kept  in 
force  at  least  twenty-six  years,  for  it  was  renewed  in 
1 85 1  by  John  G.  North,  who  became  an  agent  for  the 
JEtna.  the  year  before.  The  agency  started  by  North 
is  still  in  existence,  and  has  the  original  of  this  policy 
on  its  walls.  This  old  policy  suggests  many  comparisons 
and  contrasts  between  the  methods  in  vogue  in  1825 
and  those  of  nearly  a  century  later. 

The  continued  prosperity  of  the  ^Etna  led  it,  in  a 
spirit  of  natural  expansion,  to  petition  the  Legislature 
in  1826  for  a  charter  amendment  to  permit  the  writing 
of  insurance  on  inland  navigation.  There  was  opposi- 
tion from  some  marine  insurance  company,  which 
must  have  been  vigorous  and  influential,  for  it  succeeded 
in  deferring  favorable  action  for  thirteen  years. 

[63] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


The  custom  of  the  iEtna,  which  was,  indeed,  a 
practice  among  companies  at  this  time,  of  sending 
officers  or  Directors  on  special  missions  in  the  interest 
of  the  corporation,  was  evidenced  in  1827  by  the 
appointment  of  Joseph  Morgan  as  special  agent,  to  go 
to  Canada  to  investigate  the  business  of  the  Company 
and  to  settle  the  losses  on  a  fire  which  had  occurred 
a  short  time  before  at  Quebec.  This  was  the  first  of 
many  such  trips  for  investigation  or  adjustment  of 
losses,  which  Morgan  was  to  make  for  the  Company. 

At  the  close  of  this  period,  which  immediately  pre- 
ceded the  first  real  crisis  in  the  history  of  the  ^Etna, 
the  Company  had  become  not  only  a  national,  but  an 
international  institution;  and  all  this  accomplished  in 
less  than  eight  years.  Its  agencies  extended  as  far 
north  as  Quebec,  reaching  out  to  Saco,  Maine,  on 
the  east,  and  as  far  south  and  west  as  Louisiana  and 
Michigan.  The  Company  had  made  a  splendid  start; 
there  was  a  fine  spirit  of  harmony  and  co-operation 
among  its  officers;  the  name  JEtn^.  had  begun  to  stand 
for  strength  and  security  and  to  inspire  a  confidence 
that  was  to  grow  but  stronger  with  the  passing  years. 


[64I 


Chapter  VI 

FACING  ITS  FIRST  CRISIS 

I827-I845 

AFTER  eight  years  of  prosperity  the  ^Etna  was 
now  to  meet  the  first  crisis  In  its  history. 
Financial  conditions  were  bad  throughout  the 
country  in  1827;  idle  factories,  Inactive  trade,  poor 
collections  and  frequent  bankruptcies  attested  the 
seriousness  of  the  times.  The  Company  had  a  series 
of  fires,  none  of  severe  loss,  but  in  the  aggregate  taxing 
heavily  its  resources.  In  July  the  Directors  voted  to 
sell  the  stock  owned  by  the  Company  in  the  United 
States  Bank,  the  Phoenix  Bank  of  Hartford,  Merchants 
Bank  of  New  York  City,  and  the  State  Bank  of  Albany. 
The  summer  of  1827  was  passed  through  without 
special  strain,  when  In  November  came  the  news  of 
a  big  fire  In  Mobile,  Alabama,  with  reported  loss  of  a 
million  dollars,  a  startling  sum  In  those  days.  What 
the  ^Etna's  share  In  this  calamity  was,  did  not  immed- 
iately appear.  Perkins  wrote  at  once  to  Thaddeus 
Sanford,  the  agent  at  Mobile,  to  proceed  as  rapidly 
as  possible  to  collect  Information  as  to  the  amount 
of  the  Etna's  losses,  and  said  that  he  himself  would 
go  to  Mobile  to  assist  in  the  final  adjustment.     Two 

5  [65] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


days  later  he  was  on  his  way,  empowered  to  settle 
claims  and  to  establish  or  suspend  agencies. 

While  in  Mobile,  Secretary  Perkins  was  scrupulously 
alert  not  to  incommode  the  Company  a  bit  more  than 
was  necessary,  for  he  drew  at  thirty  days  for  money 
needed  instead  of  by  sight  draft  as  was  customary. 
The  adjustment  was  long  and  tedious.  While  he 
was  doing  his  best  at  the  southern  end  of  the  line,  the 
Directors  in  Hartford  were  grappling  earnestly  and 
efficiently  with  a  most  serious  problem,  for  the  very 
existence  of  the  Company  trembled  in  the  balance. 
A  committee,  composed  of  President  Brace  and  Direc- 
tors Henry  L.  Ellsworth  and  Stephen  Spencer, 
appointed  to  devise  ways  and  means  to  meet  the 
losses,  were  fully  alive  to  the  gravity  of  the  situation. 
Their  prescription  was  heroic,  but  it  met  the  crisis. 

First,  all  the  bank  stock  of  the  Company,  having 
a  par  value  of  $21,750,  was  to  be  sold,  except  $1,500 
in  the  Eagle  Bank  of  Providence.  Second,  all  loans, 
amounting  to  $6,780,  were  to  be  collected  as  rapidly 
as  possible,  without  inconvenience  to  the  borrowers. 
Third,  all  agents  were  pressed  to  remit  premium  funds 
in  their  hands.  These  three  measures  would,  it  was 
thought,  bring  in  about  $30,000.  Fourth,  the  remain- 
ing funds  necessary  were  to  be  secured  from  local 
banks  on  paper  endorsed  by  some  of  the  Directors, 
the    Board    guaranteeing    to    protect    the    endorsers. 

That  was  the  plan  proposed  by  the  Committee 
which,  accepted  by  the  Board,  saved  the  day.  The 
seriousness  of  the  situation  will  be  realized  when  we 
remember  that  the  investments  and  losses  referred  to 

[66] 


FACING  ITS  FIRST  CRISIS 


by  the  committee  constituted  the  entire  paid-in 
capital  and  accumulated  profits.  Up  to  this  time  the 
bulk  of  the  Company's  assets  consisted  of  stockholders' 
notes  for  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  par  value  of  their 
stock.  It  was  not  deemed  advisable  to  demand 
payment  of  these  notes  at  this  time,  nor  to  make  an 
assessment  on  them. 

The  action  of  the  Board  was  typical  of  the  way 
the  Company  faced  the  crises  and  calamities  that 
shadowed  some  of  its  later  years,  calmly,  coolly,  and 
in  a  fine  spirit  of  courage  and  co-operation  that  never 
faltered.  There  are  some  thin  slips  of  paper  in  the 
vaults  of  the  /Etna,  —  notes  browned  with  age, 
and  the  writing  growing  dimmer,  —  that  tell  today 
how  Brace  and  Morgan,  individually  and  jointly, 
signed  their  names  during  the  dark  months  of  the 
winter  of  1827,  and  long  into  1828,  to  promises  to  pay 
amounts  aggregating  $103,000  to  preserve  the  Com- 
pany's life  and  its  honor. 

One  great  lesson  from  the  Mobile  fire  was  the 
realization  of  the  need  of  a  reserve  fund  or  surplus, 
slowly  accumulating,  as  a  resource  in  a  crisis.  There 
had  been  a  happy  optimistic  feeling  theretofore  that  a 
premium  paid  in  was  a  profit  and  as  such  should  be 
divided.  But  the  Directors  who  had  gone  through 
this  ordeal,  with  its  perilous  stress  and  strain,  were  not 
likely  to  face  willingly  a  repetition,  when  a  surplus 
would  prevent,  or  at  least  reduce,  the  force  of  the 
blow  of  a  heavy  loss;    so  they  began  work  to  this  end. 

It  was  the  character  and  credit  of  the  Board  of 
Directors    that    pulled    the    Company    through,    not 

[67I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


ordinary  assets.  Part  of  the  money  raised  was  needed 
to  pay  other  losses,  for  1827  seemed  a  hoodooed  year 
to  all  insurance  companies,  losses  being  four  times  in 
excess  of  the  normal.  The  long  after-effects  were 
shown  when  on  June  i,  1828,  the  iEtna  account  was 
found  to  be  overdrawn  $2,163.90  at  the  Phoenix  Bank, 
which  had  stood  bravely  by  in  the  crisis.  The  loss 
at  Mobile  was  finally  determined  to  be  about  fifty 
thousand  dollars. 

The  solvency  of  the  Company  was  questioned  by 
enemies  during  this  dark  period,  and  James  M. 
Goodwin,  Secretary  pro  tem.  in  the  absence  of  Perkins, 
was  kept  busy  answering  personal  inquiries  and  letters 
from  all  over  the  country,  from  agents  and  other 
anxious  seekers  for  information.  The  Company's 
promptness  in  paying  all  losses,  dollar  for  dollar,  as 
it  ever  has  during  its  century  of  existence,  soon  dis- 
pelled all  doubts. 

The  Mobile  fire  had  one  result  that  was  to  grow 
with  the  years.  It  was  in  1827,  the  coming  together 
in  conference  of  the  three  Hartford  companies  —  the 
i^tna,  the  Hartford,  and  the  Protection  —  to  compare 
experiences  to  the  end  that  the  business  should  be 
stabilized  by  means  of  equitable  and  just  rates.  This 
was  an  early,  if  not  the  first  move  of  insurance  com- 
panies to  combine  their  wisdom  on  questions  of  vital 
and  common  interest  and  to  agree  on  certain  details 
—  a  movement  which  later  broadened  into  the 
splendid  work  of  the  local  boards  and  of  the  National 
Board  of  Fire  Underwriters. 

The  Protection  Insurance  Company,  just  mentioned, 

[68] 


FACING  ITS  FIRST  CRISIS 


was  organized  in  1825,  and  its  first  President  was 
W.  W.  Ellsworth,  a  Director  and  later  general  counsel 
of  the  ^tna;  subsequently  Eliphalet  Averill,  another 
iEtna  Director,  became  President  of  the  Protection. 
The  spirit  between  the  two  companies  ever  remained 
cordial,  and  often  they  had  joint  agents. 

About  the  middle  of  March,  1828,  Secretary 
Perkins  returned  from  the  South,  after  a  hard,  anxious, 
four  months'  trip,  weary  in  body  and  mind.  He 
realized  that  the  growing  business  of  the  Company 
was  making  it  extremely  difficult  for  him  to  attend 
to  his  diverse  secretarial  duties  and,  in  addition,  carry 
on  his  law  practice.  Four  months  of  absence  had 
seriously  disturbed  his  legal  business,  and  it  became 
imperative  for  him  to  choose  between  the  law  and 
insurance  as  his  permanent  profession.  The  result 
of  his  decision  was  his  resignation  as  Secretary  on 
June  9,  1828.  For  the  last  year  of  his  service  to  the 
Company  his  salary,  including  rent,  had  been  reduced 
from  ^1,000  to  ^750  in  consideration  of  allowing  him 
to  use  the  "front  office"  for  his  legal  business. 

In  the  withdrawal  of  Perkins  the  Company  lost  an 
intelligent  and  loyal  worker.  After  leaving  the  i^tna 
he  continued  to  practice  law  in  Hartford  for  some 
time,  being  a  partner  of  Thomas  Clapp  Perkins,  one 
of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  state.  Isaac  Perkins 
served  as  State's  Attorney  of  Connecticut  in  1839, 
a  year  before  his  death,  which  occurred  on  August 
18,  1840.  Fifty-four  years  later,  Frederick  Perkins, 
surviving  son  of  Isaac  Perkins  and  administrator  of 
his  estate,  filed  papers  in  court  for  the  distribution, 

[69] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


among  the  heirs,  of  ^127.58,  which  was  discovered  as 
having  been  left  by  his  father,  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
in  the  Society  of  Savings  of  Hartford.  In  1908  the 
^tna  received  from  the  family  of  Isaac  Perkins  an 
oil  portrait  of  the  Company's  first  Secretary  made 
the  year  of  his  death. 

After  the  Mobile  fire  the  ^tna  seems  to  have 
been  even  more  than  usually  watchful  of  its  risks; 
it  drew  sharper  lines  of  distinction  between  the  buildings 
it  insured,  as  to  their  construction,  proximity  of  other 
buildings,  and  the  kind  of  business  carried  on  within 
their  walls.  The  letters  to  agents  at  this  period  had 
frequent  reference  to  such  questions,  and  rates  were 
increasing.  New  England  agents  were  instructed  not 
to  renew  any  risks  on  buildings  occupied  for  cotton, 
woolen  or  paper  manufacture  without  having  the 
rate  specifically  fixed  by  the  home  office. 

Beginning  in  June,  1828,  the  Company,  which 
for  nine  years  had  paid  rent  to  Perkins,  now  paid  it,  at 
the  rate  of  ^175  a  year,  to  Joseph  Morgan.  In  the 
year  following,  Morgan  sold  his  Exchange  Coffee  House 
to  Selah  Treat,  and  then  leased  the  City  Hotel  at 
Hartford,  which  he  disposed  of  in  1835,  and  permanently 
retired  from  the  hotel  business,  devoting  the  remaining 
years  of  his  life  to  the  affairs  of  the  iEtna.  He  made 
shrewd  real-estate  investments,  notably  on  Farmington 
Road  and  Asylum  Avenue  in  Hartford,  which  increased 
greatly  in  value  in  later  years. 

In  the  early  days  of  Morgan's  Exchange  Coffee 
House,  or,  to  be  more  exact,  the  year  which  saw  the 
organization  of  the  ^Etna,  Joseph  Morgan  employed 

[70I 


FACING  ITS  FIRST  CRISIS 


as  an  assistant  a  youth  of  sixteen  years,  named  James 
Goodwin,  'whose  son.  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  Goodwin, 
and  grandson,  Charles  A.  Goodwin,  a  century  later, 
were  to  be  among  the  active  Directors  of  the  Company. 
James  —  who,  by  the  way,  should  not  be  confused  with 
James  M.  Goodwin,  successor  to  Perkins  as  Secretary 
of  the  ^tna  —  was  an  aggressive  lad.  His  bent  and 
later  activities  in  life  were  disclosed  when,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-one,  he  purchased  a  stage-coach  line  running 
out  of  Hartford.  This  young  student  of  transportation 
later  was  to  be  prominently  identified  with  the 
development  of  steam  and  street  railroads  in  New 
England.  It  was  a  proud  moment  in  his  life,  many 
years  after,  when  he  performed  the  ceremony  of  driving 
the  first  horse-car  along  the  newly-laid  rails  of  Hartford's 
first  street  railroad  system.  In  1832  James  Goodwin 
married  Lucy  Morgan,  the  daughter  of  his  early 
employer,  thus  cementing  a  relationship  between  two 
families  that  have  made  their  impress  upon  every 
period  of  American  life  for  more  than  two  centuries. 

After  retiring  from  the  hotel  business,  Joseph 
Morgan  made  many  trips  for  the  Company,  establishing 
agencies,  investigating  risks  and  adjusting  losses. 
To  his  diaries,  begun  when  he  was  only  twelve  years 
and  kept  up  without  a  break  till  three  weeks  before 
his  death,  we  are  indebted  for  interesting  details 
of  his  trips  in  those  early  days,  when  travel  was  slow, 
roundabout  and  tiresome. 

In  and  between  the  lines  of  these  diaries  may  be 
gUmpsed  much  of  the  history  of  the  JEtna.  during  the 
first  quarter  century  of  its  existence,  for  during  those 

[71] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


years  Joseph  Morgan  was  closely  and  continuously 
connected  with  its  progress.  Like  President  Brace, 
in  time  of  crisis  he  was  a  tower  of  strength,  and  more 
than  once  the  magic  of  his  name  on  company  notes 
enabled  the  JEtns.  to  meet  serious  losses  fully  and 
promptly.  Likewise,  behind  the  brief  entries  in  his 
diaries,  we  can  see  the  iEtna  growing  and  extending 
its  activities  in  the  north  and  south  and  west,  keeping 
pace  with,  and  oft-times  leading,  the  constructive  and 
civilizing  forces  that  built  the  inland  cities  and  towns 
of  America  and  Canada  as  we  see  them  to-day. 

An  excellent  account  of  some  of  these  trips  is 
given  by  Frank  Farnsworth  Starr,  the  well  known 
genealogist  of  Middletown,  Connecticut,  who  says: 

On  Mr.  Morgan's  first  journey,  in  1827,  he  went  to  Quebec 
to  adjust  losses  from  a  fire,  and  ten  years  later  made  a  trip  to 
St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  necessitating  an  absence  of  three 
weeks,  and  covering  iioo  miles  of  stage  and  steamboat  travel, 
excepting  the  distance  by  rail  from  Worcester  to  Boston.  Three 
years  later,  on  a  Southern  trip,  he  touched  at  Norfolk  and 
Portsmouth,  Va.,  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  also  at  Petersburg,  Richmond 
and  Fredericksburg,  where  he  visited  the  grave  of  George 
Washington's  mother. 

An  extensive  and  interesting  trip  was  that  of  April  21st 
to  June  30th,  1842,  on  which  he  visited  New  York,  Trenton, 
Phila.,  Harrisburg,  Pittsburgh,  Wheeling,  Zanesville,  Chillicothe, 
Columbus,  O.,  Dayton  and  Cincinnati.  In  Cincinnati  he  visited 
Lane  Seminary,  of  which  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  was  President. 
Having  left  that  city,  he  saw  from  the  boat  while  en  route  to 
Louisville  the  home  and  burial  place  of  President  Wm.  Henry 
Harrison  at  North  Bend,  Ohio.  Arriving  at  Lexington,  having 
left  Louisville  and  Frankfort,  he  called  on  Henry  Clay. 

By  the  i8th  of  May  he  had  returned  to  Louisville  and 
boarded  a  steamer  for  Natchez.  Making  interesting  and 
instructive  notes  in  his  diary,  he  went  to  New  Orleans  by  boat. 
His  passage  from  New  Orleans  to  Vicksburg,  _  and  thence  to  St. 
Louis,  was  retarded  by  sand  bars  in  the  river,  breaking  of  paddle 

[7^1 


FACING  ITS  FIRST  CRISIS 


wheels  and  other  injuries  to  the  machinery.  Pausing  to  note 
50  steamboats  in  the  river  near  St.  Louis,  and  commenting  on 
the  prosperous  appearance  of  that  city,  he  traveled  cross-country 
to  Springfield  and  Peoria,  111.,  thence  by  stage  and  steamboat 
to  Chicago  —  then  a  place  of  5000  souls  —  and  thence  by  boat 
to  Detroit,  Cleveland  and  Buffalo. 

After  visiting  Toronto  he  came  East,  stopping  at  Rockport, 
Rochester,  Auburn,  Syracuse,  Utica  and  Albany:  "thus,"  as  he 
says  in  his  diary,  "having  performed  a  journey  of  6099  rniles  in 
ten  weeks,  viz:  4330  by  s.  boats,  743  in  stage-coaches,  716  on 
railroads,  and  310  in  canal  packet  boats.  The  whole  legitimate 
expense  of  which  —  ^3.83  for  every  hundred  miles,  including  board, 
etc.,  it  being  per  day  for  every  expense  $3.29,  and  being  for  every 
twenty-four  hours  including  lying  still,  etc.,  about  eighty-three 
miles  of  travel." 

A  comparatively  local  trip  occurred  in  1843,  when,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-three,  he  visited  Brattleboro,  Windsor,  Montpelier 
and  Burlington,  Vt.,  Montreal,  Ogdensburg,  Kingston,  Toronto 
and  Rochester.  In  the  summer  of  the  following  year  a  nine 
weeks'  trip  embraced  Central  New  York,  Southern  and  Central 
Michigan,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Western  Virginia  and 
Maryland.  His  last  extensive  trip  on  insurance  business  was 
confined  to  Canada,  where  he  stopped  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia, 
and  St.  John,  New  Brunswick. 

In  the  offices  of  the  ^tna  are  many  interesting 
souvenirs  of  the  life  of  the  organization.  Among 
them  is  a  crudely  printed  invitation  "to  sup  with  the 
President  and  Directors  of  the  ^Etna  at  Morgan's 
Coffee  House  on  December  13,  1833."  That  they 
made  merry,  and  that  "to  sup"  was  but  the  modest 
deprecation  of  a  host's  over-modesty,  is  proved  by 
Joseph  Morgan's  bill  for  this  little  celebration.  It 
itemized  forty-two  dinners  at  six  shillings  each,  and 
that  meant  one  dollar  a  plate;  and  to  show  that  the 
"drys"  were  not  then  in  the  ascendant,  there  were 
seventeen  bottles  of  champagne,  twelve  bottles  of 
sherry   and    ten   of  Madeira,    at    twelve   shillings   per 

[73] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


bottle.  The  JEtna.  still  preserves  this  mute  memorial 
of  its  reckless  extravagance,  with  Joseph  Morgan's 
signature,  acknowledging  payment  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  dollars.  How  Perkins  must  have  shivered 
at  the  enormity  of  the  outlay,  if  he  had  chanced  to  be 
present  on  this  festive  occasion! 

There  were  heavy  losses  during  the  winter  of 
1832-33  amounting  to  $56,000  in  three  months.  The 
Company  was  doing  an  unsatisfactory  business  in 
New  York,  as  was  shown  in  a  letter  to  one  of  its  agents 
in  May,  1834,  written  by  Secretary  Goodwin: 

I  am  perplexed  and  discouraged  with  our  business  in  your 
State  (New  York).  We  are  now  minus  about  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars  since  we  commenced  with  Mr.  Van  Rensselaer  (1828),  and 
it  is  growing  worse.  Our  business  in  New  York  swallows  up  our 
earnings  everywhere  else.  Our  whole  scale  of  premiums  must  be 
advanced  from  a  third  to  a  half.  If  that  cannot  be  done,  we 
had  better  withdraw. 

The  iEtna  was  doing  little  business  in  New  York 
City,  for  foreign  offices  did  no  extensive  underwriting 
there  until  later.  There  was  keen  competition  and 
reckless  slashing  of  rates  that  made  foreign  companies 
steer  clear  of  the  city,  as  the  prudent  man  avoids 
becoming  mixed  up  in  a  street  fight.  This  rate-cutting 
was  not  a  new  thing,  for  even  in  18 19,  the  very  year 
of  the  birth  of  the  ^tna,  an  organization  was  founded 
in  New  York  —  one  of  the  early  local  boards  —  known 
as  the  Salamander  Society,  the  members  of  which  were 
pledged  to  adhere  to  established  rates.  It  did  not 
seem  to  have  accomplished  much,  for  the  bitter  rate- 
war  went  on.  Foreign  companies,  as  the  term  originated 
during  the  period  of  the  War  of  18 12  when  anti-British 
sentiment   ran    high,   meant   only    those   whose   home 

[74] 


IN 


K.  '!•  >•  A     J  >•  S  1    H  A  v  r  K    T  O  31  !'A  .V  V 


P.i       /  HV  THIS  POLICY  01- INSIIRANTE^TIIE  ITNA  INSURANCE  COMPAST,  fa  t<>nilil»i.ll.H 

,j .  //>  (  /^  J'tut,  '.7't^/anj  • 1"  *>■» 

|.>il!;thc  KMir^i  iKrcin  afUt  nami-tl,  Ihc  KCtipt  Mhenof  i*  hrfcbf  widuio^Mgt^f  DO  L\iL  H£ 

A<;  ttx^T  LOSS  (Hi  iJ.iMA*.k  tn  nut:,  to  'hil  im<km  'n 


9/  ^-   •■ 

...    .,  /./ 


t/it..',     j«^^^^    ^i-' .^t^Mi^eM.   tit   .'t//f^^/ 


'*„"rn^^""t  ^  *"*  """z.yTtn.T^-'i'j!,' 


'^^^.•fA.^lt'^^*;'-:''" 


>itk<k~«*4Hj  -V^t^ttL  A^-r*^ 


■Wv  tv  SHKM  elO*  JCn.  I*tt:i 


,h. 


!  '^i<ra^'^j4-?A///A 


/T  ^^.. . 


^TNA   POLICY  No.  1 
ISSUED  TO  .10SP:PH   morgan,  august   17,  1819 


FACING  ITS  FIRST  CRISIS 


office  was  in  a  foreign  country,  and  such  companies 
were  forbidden  by  law  to  operate  in  New  York  State, 
though  foreign  companies,  restricting  the  term  to  those 
from  other  States,  could  operate,  but  had  to  pay  a 
premium  tax  of  ten  per  cent.  The  rate-cutting, 
combined  with  the  tax,  made  New  York  City  an 
undesirable  territory  for  outsiders. 

When  the  terrible  fire  broke  out  there  on  December 
1 6,  1835,  the  JEtna.  had  reason  to  congratulate  itself 
that  its  risks  in  New  York  City  were  but  trifling. 
For  three  days  the  fire  raged,  with  a  strong  north-east 
wind  blowing;  hydrants  were  frozen  and  out  of 
commission;  the  water  drawn  from  the  river  froze 
in  the  hose.  Finally  the  flames  were  extinguished  only 
by  blowing  up  a  number  of  buildings  by  gunpowder, 
leaving  a  vacant  space  the  fire  could  not  overleap. 
Nearly  the  whole  of  the  business  section  of  the  city 
around  Hanover  Square,  Pearl  and  Wall  Streets, 
comprising  648  houses  and  stores  with  their  contents, 
entailing  a  loss  of  $18,000,000,  were  destroyed.  It 
burned  over  fifty-two  acres  and  was  the  greatest  fire 
the  country  had  known  up  to  that  time.  Twenty-three 
of  the  twenty-six  local  companies  failed  as  a  result. 

But  New  York  learned  its  lesson;  the  people  now 
realized  that  payment  of  losses  was  more  Important 
than  low  premiums,  and  that  soundness  was  the  first 
question  to  be  considered  in  relation  to  an  insurance 
company.  The  wiping  out  of  the  New  York  concerns 
made  it  essential  to  secure  immediate  protection,  new 
local  companies  were  organized,  and  the  tax  on  those 
of  other  States  was  reduced  from  ten  to  two  per  cent. 

[75I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


This  action  made  it  possible  for  the  iEtna  to  enter 
the  field  in  earnest. 

The  Company  was  merely  "singed"  by  the  fire 
to  the  amount  of  ten  thousand  dollars.  In  response 
to  numberless  inquiries,  Secretary  Goodwin  responded: 
"The  Company  was  never  in  better  condition.  The 
calamitous  fire  in  New  York  has  brought  us  an 
accumulation  of  business  which  has  kept  me  constantly 
occupied."  The  Board  of  Directors  voted  to  send  a 
representative  to  New  York  City  to  investigate  with 
a  view  to  appointing  an  agent  there  and  also  to  write 
risks  while  there  "at  his  discretion,  not  to  exceed 
38,000  on  any  single  risk."  Some  of  the  Board  voted 
against  the  general  proposal. 

In  April,  1835,  the  Directors,  feeling  the  necessity 
of  expansion  due  to  increased  business,  authorized 
the  purchase  from  William  H.  Imlay,  of  the  lot  and 
buildings  west  of  Treat's  Exchange  Coffee  House 
(formerly  Morgan's)  for  |9,570.  This  deal  was  put 
through,  and  a  committee  being  appointed  to  supervise 
the  erection  of  a  new  building,  the  ^tna  moved  to 
its  second  home,  No.  53  State  Street,  after  having 
spent  its  first  sixteen  years  in  the  Coffee  House.  The 
year  following  they  bought  this  too  —  the  lot,  building 
and  furniture  —  from  Selah  Treat  for  $30,000. 

A  curious  note  of  interest  relating  to  this  second 
home  of  the  ^Etna  was  published  in  the  Courant  on 
July  15,  1913,  over  three-quarters  of  a  century  later. 
This  item  read  as  follows: 

Workmen  yesterday  removed  a  sign  over  the  entrance  to 
No.  134  (originally  53)  State  Street  and  discovered  the  old  sign 

[76I 


FACING  ITS  FIRST  CRISIS 


"/Etna.  Insurance  Company"  in  gilt  letters  in  two  large  slabs  of 
sandstone.  It  was  put  up  in  1835,  when  the  .^tna  moved  into 
its  own  property.  It  occupied  the  first  floor  of  the  building  as 
offices  until  1867.  The  old  vault  in  the  offices  had  a  door  of  sheet 
steel  three-fourths  of  an  inch  thick  and  thick  walls  of  brick. 

The  financial  prosperity  of  the  Mtna.  at  this  period 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  dividends  of  one  dollar  per 
share  were  paid  semi-annually  from  June,  1831,  to 
December,  1834,  when  the  rate  was  increased  to  five 
dollars;  only  one  dividend  had  been  passed  since 
the  organization  of  the  company,  and  that  was  following 
the  Mobile  fire.  By  May,  1836,  the  situation  of  the 
Company  was  so  strong  that  the  Board  voted  a 
dividend  of  ^50,000,  being  twenty-five  per  cent,  of 
its  capital,  to  be  applied  towards  the  liquidation  of 
the  notes  of  the  stockholders.  Money  was  coming 
in  rapidly,  and  the  Directors  made  many  new  invest- 
ments, putting  as  much  as  they  could  safely  afford  in 
railroad  stock.  Getting  into  these  enterprises  on  the 
ground  floor,  when  a  new  road  was  chartered,  they 
paved  the  way  for  the  Increasing  prosperity  of  the  i^tna 
in  the  later  years  when  the  success  of  the  railroads  made 
their  original  stock  of  great  value.  The  first  purchase 
of  this  character  was  three  hundred  shares  of  the 
proposed  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad  Company. 

In  January,  1837,  there  was  a  big  fire  at  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick;  $50,000  was  voted  to  pay  losses,  and 
Secretary  Goodwin  was  sent  to  direct  the  adjustment. 
This  fire  practically  wiped  out  the  cherished  surplus 
of  the  Company.  Later  in  the  year  Joseph  Morgan 
was  also  sent  to  St.  John  to  investigate  and  to  clear 
up  any  loose  ends  remaining  unsettled. 

[77I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSUR.\NCE 


Secretary  Goodwin,  who  was  now  receiving  $1,500 
a  year,  had  accepted  an  offer  to  become  secretary  of 
the  Protection  Insurance  Company  of  Hartford,  and 
resigned  from  the  x^tna  in  April,  1837.  Whether  he 
was  wise  in  making  the  change  from  the  Company 
which  he  had  served  since  1828  may  be  problematic; 
at  any  rate  he  remained  with  the  Protection  but  a 
brief  time  and  then  became  Hartford  local  agent  for 
the  Washington-Providence  Insurance  Company.  He 
died  at  Hartford  on  March  30,  1870. 

Simeon  L.  Loomis,  who  had  been  with  the  Company 
as  an  assistant  to  Goodwin  since  1833,  was  appointed 
Secretary.  Loomis  was  a  picturesque  figure  in  the  life 
of  the  iEtna  in  the  years  to  come.  He  was  individual, 
forceful,  direct,  rapidly  grasping  the  details  of  a 
problem  and  resourceful  in  seeing  the  way  out.  He 
was  shrewd,  diplomatic,  adroit,  and  there  was  a  live- 
wire  quality  and  a  sparkle  and  tang  in  whatever  he 
wrote,  with  a  delightfully  human  touch,  that  makes 
it  hard  to  resist  quoting  each  of  his  letters  in  full,  as 
they  come  up  in  the  records. 

It  may  seem,  in  this  story  of  the  xEtna,  that  while 
we  hear  much  of  the  secretaries  we  hear  little  of 
Thomas  K.  Brace,  the  President.  This  is,  however, 
perfectly  natural,  for  the  hand  that  performs  is  in 
evidence,  apparent  to  all,  but  the  head  that  directs 
and  controls  is  'way  back  in  the  silence,  behind  closed 
doors,  just  as  we  see  the  chauffeur  who  runs  the  car 
but  not  the  motive  force  that  moves  it.  It  was  round 
the  conference  table  of  the  Board  of  Directors  that 
Brace  really  revealed  himself.     Cool,  keen,  even,  calm 

[78I 


fc. 


||||||| ■ill 111  I  I ii ■ 


STATE  STREET  OFFICE  OF  THE  JETSX  INSURANCE  COMPAN\' 

1837-1867 


FACING  ITS  FIRST  CRISIS 


and  quick  to  grasp  a  situation,  and  safe  and  sound 

in  his  decisions,  there  he  was  a  real  force.    Had  it  not 

been  for  his  clearness  of  thought,  his  dynamic  energy 

and    inspiring    leadership,    the    history    of   the    ^tna 

might  be  vastly  different  from  what  it  is  to-day.    The 

final  outcome  of  all  discussions  was  the  "vote  of  the 

Directors,"  with  his  voice  merged  with  the  others. 

But  truth  to  tell,  the  Secretary  of  the  Company, 

at    this    period,    was    the    real    executive,    so    far    as 

underwriting     was     concerned,    while     the     President 

confined  himself  principally    to    financial    matters,   as 

was  manifest  in  the  attitude  of  the  Board  in  deferring 

to   Perkins'  judgment   over   the   decision   of  Brace   in 

the  proposal  to  litigate  a  fire  loss  at  Montreal  early 

in    the    Company's    history.      It    is    also    illustrated, 

in    the    wise,    fatherly    words    of  counsel    written    by 

Secretary  Loomis  to  President  Brace  when  the  latter 

was    in    Washington,    in    February,    1838,    suggesting 

that  he  go  to  Baltimore  and  try  to  settle  a  claim  in 

litigation.     There  is  a  touch  of  the  worldly  wisdom 

of  Chesterfield's  letters  to  his  son,  in  these  lines,  and 

a  suave  deference  which  counsels  while  seeming  merely 

to  restate  what  the  other  already  knows  so  well: 

It  has  been  suggested  that  an  offer  from  you,  made 
unconditionally,  of  a  greater  sum  than  hitherto  offered  them, 
might  prejudice  our  cause  and  retard  a  settlement.  It  is,  as 
you  are  well  aware,  a  case  which  requires  the  best  address,  and 
a  good  share  of  adroitness,  to  manage;  and  the  duty  of  treating 
it  skillfully  and  with  success  could  not  have  devolved  on  one 
better  qualified  than  yourself.  Dignified  reserve,  with  no  apparent 
solicitude,  yet  a  countenance  beaming  with  fairness,  an  open  ear 
to  all  their  statements,  treasuring  in  your  memory  everything, 
or  recording  it,  with  occasional  assurances  of  the  disposition  of 
the  Board  to  be  just  unto  all,  may  draw  from  them  altogether 

[79] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


better  terms  than  have  yet  been  submitted.  When  you  get  them 
to  the  right  notch,  you  may,  if  you  please,  assure  them  of  your 
influence  with  the  Board  in  their  behalf.  Make  them  put  on 
paper  their  terms,  and  at  the  same  time  authorizing  their  attorney 
here  to  receive  the  pay  and  close  the  matter  forever. 

About  two  weeks  later  these  lines  were  sent  to 
President  Brace  by  Loomis: 

We  will  add  but  a  word  in  relation  to  a  final  settlement  with 
Dawsons,  i.  e.  no  offense  will  be  taken  by  Directors  if  you  settle 
with  them  at  $500,  |iooo  or  $3000  less  than  you  are  authorized 
to  by  vote. 

The  Directors  had  authorized  Brace  to  settle, 
but  not  to  exceed  $5,000.  But,  in  the  words  of  Robert 
Burns,  "the  best  laid  schemes  o'  mice  or  men  gang  aft 
a-gley,"  for  despite  Loomis'  coaching,  or  perhaps 
because  Brace  had  not  acquired  true  diplomatic  tech- 
nique, the  eventual  settlement  cost  nine  thousand 
dollars. 

In  May,  1838,  the  President's  salary  was  reduced 
to  $600  a  year,  at  his  own  request,  on  account  of  his 
employment  of  a  clerk  at  $800  per  annum  to  assist  him. 
A  month  later  President  Brace  was  authorized  to  make 
an  inspection  tour  of  agencies  in  New  York,  New 
Hampshire,  Maine,  Montreal  and  St.  Johns.  His 
letters  to  Loomis  are  filed  in  the  archives  of  the  com- 
pany, and  his  journey,  which  could  now  be  made  in  a 
week,  was  then  made  in  a  leisurely  way  from  mid-June 
to  the  fiist  of  September. 

The  question  of  an  amendment  to  the  charter, 
permitting  the  writing  of  inland  navigation  insurance, 
which  the  Company  had  first  made  an  effort  to  secure 
in  1826,  now  came  again  to  the  fore.  The  Board 
suddenly   grew   active   on    the   subject   and   voted   to 

[80] 


FACING  ITS  FIRST  CRISIS 


appeal  again  to  the  Legislature,  and  on  May  8,  1839, 
the  amendment  was  granted.  Though  the  Directors 
were  anxious  to  secure  the  right  to  write  inland  marine 
insurance,  they  did  not  actually  begin  the  new  line 
of  business  till  1843,  four  years  later.  This  post- 
ponement of  action  was  characteristic  of  the  care 
and  caution  evidenced  in  every  step  of  the  progress 
of  the  Company.  With  the  authorization  to  enter 
this  field,  they  could  watch  and  wait  for  the  most 
opportune  hour  for  beginning  the  work. 

The  years  from  1837  to  1839  were  rather  severe 
times  for  the  ^tna.  The  loss  of  over  151,000  at  a  fire 
in  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in  1837,  was  serious  at 
the  time.  Two  years  later,  in  addition  to  smaller 
blazes  it  had  five  large  fires,  with  heavy  losses.  These 
were  Richmond,  Virginia,  $15,000;  Stonington,  Con- 
necticut, 124,000;  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
$33yS^^i  and  two  in  New  York,  one  for  $45,000  and 
a  second  two  months  later  for  $12,000.  These  fires 
hit  the  Company's  finances  a  hard  blow.  The  Board 
had  a  special  meeting  in  October,  1839,  to  consider 
ways  and  means  to  settle  outstanding  losses,  and  to 
protect  the  credit  of  the  Company.  For  some  reason, 
doubtless  wise  and  prudent,  the  Directors  worked 
out  their  own  plan  of  relief  when  under  special  finan- 
cial stress  without  calling  on  the  stockholders  to  pay 
up  on  their  notes.  Such  a  course  might  have  afl^ected 
the  general  credit  of  the  Company  by  giving  undue 
publicity  to  a  merely  temporary  stringency.  So 
President  Brace  was  instructed  to  borrow  the  money 
from    the    banks    or    if    necessary    to    mortgage    the 

6  [81] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


real-estate  of  the  Company.  Much  of  the  money 
needed  was  secured  on  his  personal  notes,  guaranteed 
by  the  ^tna.  This  borrowing  was  frequent  from 
1839  to  1843,  though  it  did  not  interfere  with  the 
paying  of  some  dividends. 

In  December,  1839,  the  Board  voted  to  join  with 
the  other  Hartford  companies  in  agreeing  upon  a 
new  regulation  of  rates,  and  to  hold  meetings  at  stated 
times  to  discuss  ways  and  means  of  protecting  their 
common  interests.  Two  years  later  the  Directors 
decided  that  the  ^tna  would  write  no  more  policies 
on  distilleries  or  theatres. 

One  feature  of  the  life  of  the  Company  constantly 
evident  in  studying  its  record  is  the  persistence  of 
fundamental  principles  from  the  very  beginning; 
secretaries  may  come  and  go,  but  the  i^tna  principles 
seem  to  run  on  forever.  When  we  read  this  note  of 
Loomis',  written  to  the  agent  at  New  Orleans  in  1843, 
it  might  almost  seem  that  we  had  picked  up  one  of 
Perkins'  letters  of  1820  or  so: 

We  have  ever  found  a  wholesale,  liberal  policy  good  enough  — 
and  we  have  no  wish  to  pursue  any  other.  Doubtless  we  have 
many  times  paid  more  than  there  was  a  righteous  claim  for  — 
and  in  some  instances  paid  when  there  was  no  just  claim  upon  us. 
But  we  hold  it  better  to  be  sinned  against  than  to  sin  —  and  what 
any  man  gets  unjustly  does  him  no  good. 

And  the  old  Perkins  touch  of  inspiration  and  counsel 

is  manifest  in  this  Loomis  letter  to  an  agent  who  was 

moving  from  New  York  to  Milwaukee.     We  now  begin 

to  realize  it  is  not  merely  the  voice  of  the  Secretary  but 

the  voice  and  spirit  of  the  iEtna  and  the  Directors: 

We  learn  that  the  town  of  Milwaukee  is  a  smart  flourishing 
place.    Now  it  would  be  the  part  of  wisdom,  when  these  new  cities 

[82] 


S.L.  LOOMIS 

FORMER      SECRETARY 


FACING  ITS  FIRST  CRISIS 


are  going  up,  to  plan  for  the  best  possible  security  of  their  pn^perty 
when  the  population  should  become  large.  In  putting  up  blocks 
let  there  be  thick  entire  walls  between  each  tenement,  or  every 
alternate  one,  extending  through  the  roof,  say  two  feet,  so  that 
one  might  burn  without  destroying  the  adjoining.  We  trust  you 
will  exert  a  good  influence  on  such  matters  when  on  the  ground. 

This  is  an  example  of  the  early  stages  of  the  work 
of  "safeguarding  America  against  fire,"  which  has 
since  assumed  such  great  importance  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters. 

The  broad  spirit,  the  confidence  of  the  ^tna  in 
its  agents,  and  its  willingness  to  vary  rules  as  need 
might  occur,  as  being  only  wise  modifications  of 
principles  that  did  not  change,  as  well  as  its  closer 
supervision  of  the  work  of  agents,  are  shown  in  a 
letter  from  Loomis  to  J.  C.  Peasley,  agent  at  Bur- 
lington, Iowa,  in  October,  1844: 

It  was  formerly  a  custom  to  furnish  agents  with  a  "Book 
of  Instructions  &  Tariff  of  Rates."  There  were  difficulties 
attending  it  —  agents  were  governed  by  it  when  their  own  good 
judgment  ran  counter  to  the  directions,  and  we  found  on  personal 
investigation  of  risks  at  the  several  agencies,  that  a  tariff  could 
not  be  made  which  would  operate  justly  —  and  hence  we  preferred 
to  submit  the  conduct  of  the  agencies  to  the  prudence  and 
discretion  of  agents,  rather  than  bind  them  to  arbitrary  rules. 
Now  we  mean  to  visit  them  once  a  year. 

The  best  risks  are  dwelling  houses;  the  worst  risks  are 
cabinet  and  joiners'  shops.  Risks  of  an  intermediate  character 
are  the  ones  on  which  we  do  the  most,  as  stores  and  shops. 

We  would  have  our  dealings,  as  far  as  possible,  with  men 
of  integrity.    Let  rogues  stand  their  own  underwriting. 

The  ^tna  had  now  completed  its  first  quarter 
century,  and  the  Directors  felt  that  they  could  look 
back  on  the  history  that  they  had  made,  with  pride 
and  congratulation.  The  business  had  safely  passed 
through   the   perils  of   the  pioneer  stage;   experiment 

[83I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


had  been  converted  into  experience  with  the  golden 
harvest  of  fuller  wisdom;  the  principles  upon  which 
the  Company  had  been  founded  had  proved  themselves 
true,  safe,  and  sound;  there  had  been  critical  times,  it 
is  true,  but  all  had  been  lived  through,  and  severe 
storms  had  all  been  weathered  in  safety.  The  Directors 
felt  heartened  by  the  prosperity  that  had  been 
attained,  and  they  faced  with  a  sense  of  serene 
confidence  the  future  of  the  Company. 


[84] 


Chapter  VII 

*'OLD  .ETNA'S"  GROWING  PAINS 

THERE  was  consternation  in  the  office  of  the 
/Etna,  on  the  afternoon  of  July  19,  1845, 
when  the  captain  of  one  of  the  boats  plying 
between  Hartford  and  New  York  rushed  in,  and 
demanding  to  see  Secretary  Loomis,  shouted  the 
alarming  news  that  New  York  City  was  on  fire. 

"When  we  pulled  out  of  the  slip  this  morning," 
he  said,  "the  whole  lower  part  of  the  city  was  covered 
with  thick  clouds  of  smoke  through  which  we  could 
see  angry  tongues  of  flame,  seemingly  in  a  dozen 
places  at  one  time.  Never  did  I  hear  such  a  clanging 
of  fire  bells;  we  could  see  at  various  points  crowds  of 
people  running  frantically  up  the  streets;  the  city 
was  in  tumult,  and  we  heard  men  on  the  docks  calling 
out  that  New  York  was  doomed  this  time." 

Thus  did  the  Company  receive  its  first  news  of  the 
great  conflagration  known  as  "the  Broad  Street  fire," 
which  was  to  threaten  the  very  life  of  the  JEtna.  and 
bring  it  face  to  face  with  its  second  crisis.  The 
Directors  had  congratulated  themselves  in  April,  just 
three  months  before,  that  they  had  escaped  the  big 
fire    in    Pittsburgh    that    nearly    burned  the  town  off 

[85I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


the  map;  now  they  were  called  upon  to  meet  a  far 
more  serious  disaster. 

When  Secretary  Loomis  wrote,  with  his  airy 
optimism,  "we  are  probably  in  for  a  cool  fifty  thousand 
dollars,"  he  did  not  realize  how  he  was  under-estimating 
the  loss.  It  was  soon  discovered  that  it  would  run 
over  $100,000,  and  final  settlements  brought  it  up  to 
^120,000.  There  were  grave  faces  round  the  Directors' 
table  when  it  was  discussed.  It  was  a  big  loss  to 
meet,  but  of  course  it  had  to  be  met,  and  yet  the  way 
was  not  immediately  clear.  But  the  spirit  of  courage 
and  resourcefulness  that  had  tided  the  Company  over 
its  first  great  crisis  in  1827  was  strong  and  energetic 
in  pulling  it  through  its  second  critical  period. 

President  Brace  made  a  hurried  trip  to  New  York 
to  survey  the  damage  and  estimate  the  losses.  He 
returned  to  Hartford  and  called  the  Directors  together. 
There  was  no  possible  misinterpretation  of  the  single 
sentence  in  which  he  told  of  the  tragedy: 

"Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "our  entire  surplus  has 
been  wiped  out  and  our  capital  seriously  impaired." 

"What  are  we  going  to  do?"  asked  one  of  the 
anxious  Directors. 

"Do?"  exclaimed  the  President,  without  a  second's 
hesitation,  "W^hy,  we're  going  to  pay  every  loss  in 
full  —  dollar  for  dollar  —  and  we  are  going  to  do  it 
at  once." 

Then,  reaching  into  his  inside  coat  pocket,  he  pulled 
out  a  sheaf  of  blank  notes,  with  diflferent  amounts 
filled  in  on  each  one,  and  passed  them  across  the  table, 
saying,    "Morgan,    you    sign    this,    Woodbridge,    sign 

[86] 


"OLD  ^.TNA'S"  GROWING  PAINS 


this,"  and  so  on  until  in  front  of  each  of  the  seventeen 
Directors  was  a  significant  bit  of  paper.  President 
Brace  had  carefully  calculated  in  his  mind  the  relative 
ability  of  each  Director  to  pay,  and  had  made  out 
each  note  accordingly.  There  was  no  questioning, 
no  hesitation;  each  man  quickly  read  the  amount 
allotted  to  him,  dipped  his  pen  into  the  ink  and  signed 
his  name.  The  President  put  his  personal  endorsement 
on  each  note  and  was  ready  to  go  directly  to  the  banks 
to  discount  them  —  and  such  paper  was  as  good  as 
gold.  It  had  all  taken  but  a  brief  time,  yet  there 
were  long  breaths  of  relief  when  the  tension  was  over. 

The  needed  amount  was  quickly  forwarded  to 
New  York.  Every  claim  was  paid.  This  instant 
action  on  the  part  of  the  ^tna,  in  the  face  of  failing 
companies  on  every  side,  was  the  final  turning  point 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Company.  Its  reputation  as  a 
reliable  and  paying  corporation  was  so  firmly  estab- 
lished that,  for  many  years  afterward,  numerous  New 
York  City  insurers  would  place  their  insurance  only 
with  the  i^tna.  New  business  came  in  so  rapidly 
that  within  a  year  the  Company  was  in  as  strong  a 
position  financially  as  before  the  fire.  Thus,  what 
threatened  to  be  a  calamity  for  the  yEtna  proved 
really  to  be  a  blessing  in  disguise. 

The  New  York  City  agent  at  this  time  was  Thomas 
A.  Alexander,  who  later  became  President  of  the  yEtna, 
and  who,  on  the  very  day  of  the  breaking  out  of  the 
New  York  fire,  had  succeeded  Augustus  G.  Hazard, 
who  had  represented  the  Company  in  the  metropolis 
since  1836,  the  year  following  New  York's  earlier  fire. 

[87] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


Alexander  did  good  work  in  adjusting  the  losses,  with 
the  splendid  co-operation  of  Joseph  Morgan,  who  had 
been  sent  from  Hartford  "to  be  on  the  ground." 

Secretary  Loomis'  skill  and  charm  as  a  letter  writer 
were  strikingly  demonstrated  during  these  troublous 
times.  He  was  in  his  element,  calming  the  fears  of 
excited  agents  over  the  country  who  feared  for  the 
iEtna  the  same  fate  which  had  befallen  so  many  other 
companies.  Had  he  owned  the  whole  company,  he 
could  not  have  felt  more  pride  and  enthusiasm  than  he 
showed  in  his  correspondence  at  this  time.  His 
excited  fervor  is  revealed  in  this  letter  of  July  24th,  in 
response  to  a  suggestion  which  he  repudiates  with 
these  words  of  magnificent  scorn: 

You  suggest  the  expediency  of  our  coming  out  with  a 
statement  in  the  public  journals  just  to  let  the  people  know  that 
"Old  ^tna"  is  alive  and  kicking  and  is  going  to  make  such  a 
splashing  in  insurance  as  the  Gothamites  never  dreamed  of  before? 
Pshaw,  man  —  don't  you  know  that  we  are  old-fashioned  folks, 
not  given  to  dry  vaporing  and  puffing?  Perhaps  you  can  do 
nothing  in  the  big  city  unless  under  the  influence  of  hot  brains 
and  feverish  excitement.  Here,  our  motto  is  "Keep  Cool"  —  bear 
adversity  with  fortitude  and  prosperity  with  meekness.  We 
see  no  occasion  for  blustering  away  in  the  papers;  it  is  not  in 
keeping  with  our  genius.  We  go  in  for  the  "solids"  and  there  is 
^n  unction  about  the  word  "ready"  that  cannot  be  expressed  in 
all  the  newspaper  paragraphs  in  New  York.  All  we  have  to  say 
IS  —  Go  ahead  with  prudence,  don't  get  too  many  eggs  in  one 
basket,  and  we  will  pay  as  fast  as  claims  are  established. 

In  August,  1845,  occurred  one  of  those  minor  fires 
in  the  history  of  the  Company,  which  one  refers  to 
merely  because  of  associations.  This  was  the  burning 
of  Henry  Clay's  bagging  factory  at  Lexington,  Ken- 
tucky,   insured    in    the    ^tna    for    $2,500.     Thomas 

[88] 


"OLD  ETNA'S"  GROWING  PAINS 

Dolan,  the  Lexington  agent,  was  instructed  to  "p^Y 
as  soon  as  the  statement  is  rendered." 

The  growing  business  of  the  Company  required  more 
capital,  and  the  Directors  in  1846  were  justified  in 
voting  to  increase  the  capital  stock  by  $50,000,  pay- 
able half  in  cash  and  half  in  notes,  bringing  the  amount 
of  capitalization  up  to  $250,000,  and  three  years 
later  a  further  increase  of  $50,000,  payable  in  cash, 
brought  the  figure  up  to  a  full  round  $300,000.  That 
the  Company  was  now  moving  along  easily  and  serenely 
seems  evident,  for  the  big  fire  at  St.  Johns,  New- 
foundland, in  1846,  with  its  loss  of  $77,000,  was  met 
as  a  mere  matter  of  routine,  without  a  ripple  of  dis- 
turbance or  anxiety,  although  it  was  less  than 
two-thirds  this  amount  which  threatened  the  life  of 
the  Company  at  the  time  of  the  Mobile  fire  less  than 
twenty  years  before. 

By  this  time  the  name  of  the  ^Etna  had  become 
nationalized;  it  had  come  to  mean  not  merely  the 
well-known  title  of  the  Company,  but  all  that  the 
Company  stood  for  —  safety,  solidity,  generous 
treatment  and  sure  and  prompt  payment  of  losses. 
The  little  tin  signs  bearing  the  single  word  "y^tna" 
tacked  on  the  walls  of  thousands  of  farm  houses, 
stores,  dwellings,  and  factories  throughout  the  country, 
told  the  passers-by  that  the  owners  rested  secure  from 
the  fear  of  loss  by  fire  because  they  were  protected 
by  the  big  insurance  Company  that  bore  that  name 
away  off  in  Hartford,  Connecticut. 

Apropos  of  this  familiar  old  sign,  it  was  told  a  few 
years   ago   that   a   little    girl    traveling   in   a   carriage 

[89] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


through  the  country  roads  out  in  Ohio,  noting  the 
number  of  houses  thus  marked,  asked  her  mother 
why  there  were  so  many  places  called  "^tna."  The 
mother  told  what  the  five  letters  meant,  and  added: 

"I  remember  asking  my  father  the  very  same 
question  when  I  was  a  little  girl  like  you,  and  when  he 
answered  me  he  told  me  that  he,  too,  remembered  as 
a  young  boy  asking  that  question  of  his  father." 

It  was  on  July  23, 1847,  that  the  Company  had  a  real 
loss  —  this  time  not  by  fire,  but  in  the  death,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-seven  and  a  half  years,  of  Joseph  Morgan, 
who  had  been  so  devoted  to  the  ^tna  from  its  very 
inception.  He  was,  for  those  times,  a  wealthy  man, 
for  the  value  of  his  estate  was  over  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  He  left  two  children  —  Lucy,  married  in 
1832  to  James  Goodwin,  and  Junius  Spencer  Morgan, 
who  was  the  second  of  the  Morgans  to  become  a 
Director  of  the  Company,  a  few  years  later. 

During  many  periods  of  stress  and  storm  Joseph 
Morgan  had  been  a  pillar  of  strength  to  the  Company. 
He  lived  to  see  the  silver  lining  of  the  cloud  which 
cast  its  dark  shadow  over  the  institution  in  1845. 
The  tremendous  increase  in  ^tna  business  which 
followed  closely  on  the  heels  of  the  New  York  fire 
made  it  possible  within  a  few  years  finally  to  cancel, 
through  the  payment  of  extra  dividends,  the  notes  which 
the  stockholders  had  given  in  subscribing  for  their  stock. 
At  the  time  of  Morgan's  death  the  capital  of  the 
Company  was  $250,000.  Of  this  sum  the  actual 
amount  of  cash  paid  in  by  the  stockholders  was  $45,000, 
plus  the  bonus  of  $2,500  paid  on   the  stock  issue  of 

[90] 


AN   OLD  FARM  HOUSE  WITH   THE  FAMILIAR  TIN   SICN  "^TNA' 
TACKED  OVER  THE  FRONT  DOOR 


'OLD  /ETNA'S"  GROWING  PAINS 


1822,  which  had  been  sold  at  five  per  cent,  premium. 
This  left  1205,000  due  on  the  notes.  The  process  of 
cancellation  began  in  1836,  with  a  special  dividend 
of  $50,000;  this  was  followed  two  years  later  with 
one  of  $10,000,   another  in    1843   of  $20,000,   two   in 

1848  for    $50,000    and    $25,000    respectively,    and    in 

1849  the  remaining  indebtedness  of  the  stockholders 
was  extinguished  by  a  special  dividend  of  $50,000. 
It  should  not  be  overlooked,  however,  that  to  reap 
these  rewards  most  of  the  stockholders  had,  in  giving 
notes,  risked  their  entire  personal  fortunes,  and  had 
contributed  gratuitously  to  the  Company  much  valuable 
and  active  service  in  various  capacities. 

In  the  late  thirties  and  in  the  early  forties  there 
were  some  attempts  of  the  fire  insurance  companies 
throughout  the  country  to  get  together  and  to  reach 
some  understanding  on  the  subject  of  standardizing 
rates.  During  a  period  of  prosperity,  when  there 
were  no  big  fires,  with  premiums  accumulating,  in 
the  zest  of  getting  business,  competition  grew 
fiercer  and  the  good  resolutions  were  forgotten  or 
ignored  by  many  of  the  short-sighted  companies. 
A  big  fire  is  to  a  company,  very  often,  what  a  great 
misfortune  or  tragedy  is  to  an  individual:  it  gives 
pause  and  brings  realization  of  the  lack  of  preparedness 
and  the  folly  that  permitted  it. 

It  was  such  a  fire  that  occurred  In  1849  at  St.  Louis, 
which  wrecked  many  companies  and  entailed  on  the 
iEtna  a  loss  of  $125,000,  the  largest  in  all  the  thirty 
years  of  Its  history.  Had  the  Company  not  profited 
by  the  lesson  of  1845,  which  revealed  anew  the  necessity 

[91] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


of  a  good  reserve  fund,  there  might  have  been  another 
crisis  in  its  affairs.  Following  the  St.  Louis  fire  a 
convention  of  many  companies  was  called  in  New 
York,  and  uniform,  sound  rates  were  adopted;  for 
a  time  serious  attempts  were  made  to  maintain  them. 

In  this  same  spirit  and  to  discourage  demoralizing 
competitive  practices  which  endangered  the  companies 
and  insurers  alike,  the  ^Etna,  in  1849,  sent  notices 
to  all  of  its  agents  in  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa, 
Illinois,  and  other  western  states,  that  Mark  Howard, 
General  Agent  of  the  Protection  Insurance  Company, 
would  visit  them  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  an  under- 
standing between  the  agents  of  the  three  Hartford 
companies,  the  Northwestern  and  Albany  companies 
of  New  York  and  two  or  three  western  companies. 
The  object  of  these  visits,  as  explained  in  the  notice, 
was  "to  effect  a  perfect  understanding  on  the  mode  of 
operation  and  on  uniformity  of  rates  and  actions  on 
the  part  of  agents." 

At  about  this  period  in  the  Company's  existence 
there  appeared  on  the  roll  of  ^tna  Directors  a  name 
which  was  to  loom  large  in  the  world  of  insurance  for 
many  years  to  come —  the  name  of  Bulkeley.  It  will 
be  recalled  that  away  back  in  its  days  of  infancy,  the 
yEtna  had  decided  to  enter  the  field  of  life  insurance 
and  had  secured  an  amendment  to  its  charter  for  that 
purpose,  but  that  no  further  action  had  been  taken. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  -^tna  stockholders 
in  June,  1846,  Eliphalet  A.  Bulkeley  was  elected  as 
one  of  the  seventeen  Directors.  By  this  time  the 
/Etnd.   had   won   an   enviable   reputation   as   a   strong 

[92I 


"OLD  ETNA'S"  GROWING  PAINS 

and  stable  institution,  and  its  name  had  become  a 
household  word  throughout  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  Realizing  all  this,  Mr.  Bulkeley  saw  no 
reason  why  the  tremendous  asset  of  a  good  name, 
and  one  so  popular  and  widely  known,  should  not  be 
utilized  in  promoting  and  developing  a  life  insurance 
business  in  addition  to  that  of  fire.  Whether  he  was 
the  sole  leader  in  the  movement  to  revive  the  long- 
slumbering  project  is  not  disclosed,  but  the  old  /£tna 
records  show  that  a  resolution  was  adopted  by  the 
Board  to  petition  the  Legislature  for  an  amendment 
modifying  the  one  granted  in  1820  and  again  empower- 
ing the  Company  to  write  life  policies. 

On  June  6,  1850,  the  charter  was  amended  and  a 
committee,  composed  of  Eliphalet  A.  Bulkeley,  E.  G. 
Ripley,  and  Miles  A.  Tuttle,  was  appointed  to  formu- 
late plans  for  the  new  department.  Within  a  week 
the  committee  reported: 

That  capital  stock,  to  be  denominated  the  "Annuity  Fund," 
should  be  raised  to  the  extent  of  |i 50,000  —  5%  in  cash  and 
approved  notes  for  the  balance  —  and  to  establish  a  Life 
Department,  to  be  entrusted  to  seven  members  of  the  Board, 
namely,  Robert  Buell,  Miles  A.  Tuttle,  John  L.  Boswell,  Eliphalet 
A.  Bulkeley,  Roland  Mather,  E,  G.  Ripley  and  Henry  Z.  Pratt, 
who  shall  be  called  Managing  Directors;  also  a  Vice-President 
of  the  JEtna.  Company  to  be  Chairman  of  the  Managing  Directors 
and  preside  at  their  meetings;  the  Annuity  Fund  to  be  at  all 
times  kept  separate  from  other  funds  of  the  Company. 

By  common  consent  Mr.  Bulkeley  was  chosen 
for  the  dual  position  of  Vice-President  of  the  /Etna 
Company  and  Chairman  of  the  Managing  Directors 
of  the  "Life  Department."  Separate  quarters  were 
provided  on  the  second  floor  of  the  ^Etna  building. 

[93] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


Realization  soon  came,  however,  that  the  business 
of  fire  underwriting  and  of  life  insurance  differed 
widely  at  almost  every  point;  that  each  was  a  pro- 
fession in  itself;  and  that  for  the  same  organization 
to  supervise  and  direct  the  multitudinous  details  of 
both  might  tend  to  weaken  one  at  the  expense  of  the 
other.  Whatever  the  controlling  reason,  the  ^Etna 
Directors  in  1853  obtained  from  the  Legislature  another 
amendment  to  the  charter,  separating  the  Life  Depart- 
ment from  the  parent  company  and  constituting 
the  stockholders  of  the  "Annuity  Fund"  a  separate 
corporation  under  the  name  of  The  ^tna  Life  Insurance 
Company,  with  Eliphalet  A.  Bulkeley  President. 

Thus  was  born  —  an  offspring  of  "Old  i^tna" — 
an  institution  which,  in  the  years  to  come,  was  to  win 
its  place  to  the  front  ranks  of  life  insurance.  Mr. 
Bulkeley  continued  to  serve  as  a  Director  of  the  older 
Company  and  as  President  of  the  JEtna.  Life  until 
his  sudden  and  lamented  death  in  February,  1872. 
His  son,  Hon.  Morgan  G.  Bulkeley,  later  to  serve 
his  state  and  country  with  distinction  as  United 
States  Senator  from  Connecticut,  became  chief  execu- 
tive of  the  life  insurance  organization  in  1879,  succeeding 
Thomas  O.  Enders,  and  in  1880  was  also  made  a 
Director  of  the  /Etna  Insurance  Company,  in  both 
of  which  positions  he  has  served  continuously  to  this 
writing. 

In  the  early  50's  the  ^Etna  was  beginning  to  think 
in  bigger  terms  and,  financially,  to  rest  calmly  in  the 
sense  of  security  given  to  it  by  a  safe  and  solid  surplus 
that  was  accumulating.     Two  fires  of  real  seriousness 

[94I 


"OLD  ETNA'S"  GROWING  PAINS 


in  a  single  year  —  1852  —  one  at  Montreal  for  $105,000 
and  another  at  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  to  the  amount  of 
|ii4,ooo,  seemed  to  produce  no  riffle  in  the  meetings 
of  the  Board,  and  two  years  later  the  capital  was 
increased  by  $200,000. 

It  was  in  1852  that  the  name  of  Morgan  reappeared 
on  the  Directorate  of  the  ^Etna,  for  five  years  after 
the  death  of  his  father,  Junius  S.  Morgan  was  elected, 
and  he  in  turn  was  followed  in  the  years  to  come 
by  his  son  and  later  by  his  grandson.  Junius  Morgan 
was  born  in  18 13  at  West  Springfield  (now  Holyoke), 
Massachusetts.  He  began  his  business  career  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  with  Alfred  Welles,  dry-goods  merchant, 
in  Boston.  During  the  next  twenty  years  he  divided 
his  time  between  dry-goods  and  banking  in  New 
York,  Hartford  and  Boston,  and  in  1854  began  his 
future  great  career  as  a  banker  when  he  entered  and 
became  a  partner  in  the  firm  of  George  Peabody  & 
Company  of  London,  England.  Ten  years  later  Mr. 
Peabody  resigned,  and  the  firm,  which  rendered  tre- 
mendous assistance  in  England  to  the  Union  during 
the  Civil  War,  became  J.  S.  Morgan  &  Co.  Mr. 
Morgan  was  married  in  1836  to  JuHa  Pierpont,  daughter 
of  Rev.  John  Pierpont  of  Boston,  and  died  at  Nice, 
France,  in  April,  1890,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven. 
Although  his  departure  for  England  in  1854  necessi- 
tated his  retirement  as  a  Director  of  the  ^tna,  he  was 
ever  deeply  interested  in  its  progress  and  continued 
until  his  death  to  give  the  Company  the  benefit  of  his 
wise  advice  and  co-operation. 

The  ^tna  was  now  to  lose  another  valued  worker. 

[95] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


Secretary  Loomis,  whose  inimitable  letters  fill  many 
pages  in  the  old  copy  books  and  in  themselves  tell 
much  of  the  history  of  the  Company  for  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  had  his  ambition  appealed  to 
in  1853  by  an  offer  of  the  Presidency  of  the  newly 
organized  Home  Insurance  Company  of  New  York 
City.  He  accepted  the  offer  and  resigned  from  the 
i£tna,  after  twenty  years  of  efficient  and  loyal  service, 
and  entered  upon  his  new  duties.  This  new  position 
not  proving  congenial,  Loomis  returned  to  Hartford 
one  year  later  to  become  President  of  the  Phoenix 
Insurance  Company,  organized  in  1854. 

In  choosing  a  man  to  succeed  Secretary  Loomis, 
the  Board  made  a  happy  choice  in  the  selection  of 
Edwin  G.  Ripley,  who,  as  a  Director,  had  been  active 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Company  since  1847.  Born  in 
New  Hampshire,  Mr.  Ripley  came  to  Hartford  as  a 
young  man  and  received  his  early  business  training 
in  the  wholesale  grocery  firm  of  Thomas  K.  Brace 
&  Co.  Here  he  came  in  close  association  with  Mr. 
Brace,  the  President  of  the  ^tna,  and  through  him 
learned  many  of  the  problems  of  the  insurance  Com- 
pany. Leaving  the  grocery  firm,  he  later  became 
a  partner  of  his  uncle,  Philip  Ripley,  in  the  iron  trade, 
which  led  eventually  to  the  large  and  successful  firm 
of  E.  G.  Ripley  &  Co.  Unhke  Loomis,  Mr.  Ripley 
had  no  experience  as  an  underwriter.  He  was  quick 
to  learn,  however,  and  speedily  proved  his  value  to 
the  Company,  for  in  1854,  after  a  year  of  service  as 
Secretary,  he  was  promoted  to  the  position  of  Vice- 
President,  the  failing  health  of  President  Brace  making 

[96] 


3.^jS^  EDWIN  G.  RIPLEY^^^nfx^S? 

:^^J^  1857  •PRE5IDENT-^662^gJlj^=^ 


I 


"OLD  ETNA'S"  GROWING  PAINS 

it  necessary  to  have  some  one  share  the  extra  burdens 
created  by  the  Company's  growth  and  expansion. 
Thomas  A.  Alexander,  New  York  City  agent  of  the 
Company,  was  called  to  the  home  office  to  succeed  Mr. 
Ripley  as  Secretary,  and  here  had  new  training  for  the 
higher  positions  he  was  to  hold  in  the  future. 

The  50's  were  live,  intense  years  in  the  history  of 
the  y^tna,  years  of  expansion  and  bigger,  broader 
adjustment  to  new  needs.  Business  was  growing  and 
spreading  at  such  a  rate  that  the  home  office  was 
taxed  beyond  the  limits  of  its  early  organization. 
The  offices  of  Assistant  Secretary  and  Vice-President 
were  created  to  lessen  to  a  degree  the  pressure  of 
two  positions  that  had  outgrown  any  mere  part-time 
service.  The  Directors  were  no  longer  able  to  go  on 
missions  to  different  parts  of  the  country  and  discharge 
the  varied  duties  which  they  had  been  called  upon  to 
perform  in  the  earlier  years.  Experts  in  these  lines 
were  now  essential;  special  agents  were  named  to 
appoint  and  supervise  large  corps  of  agents  far  from 
the  central  office;  and  through  the  new  Western 
Branch,  established  at  Cincinnati  in  1853,  hundreds 
of  new  agents  were  placed  in  the  field. 

Among  these  special  agents  appointed  about  this 
time  particular  mention  might  here  be  made  of  A.  F. 
Willmarth.  Although  his  duties  were  those  of 
''traveling  agent,"  his  official  title  was  Assistant 
Secretary  —  a  position  which  in  later  years  was 
to  become  increasingly  important.  He  held  the 
position  for  two  years — 1851  to  1853  —  when  he 
resigned  to  re-enter  field  work.    He  eventually  became 

7  [97] 


t^-'  ONE  HL^NDRED  YE,AR$  OF  FIRE  INSUR-^NCE      ^^ 

\'ice-President  of  the  Home  Insurance  Company  of 
New  York  and  one  ot  the  recognized  leaders  in  the 
insurance  world.  The  position  of  Assistant  Secretary  of 
the  .Etna  remained  unfilled  from  1853  to  1S63,  when 
Jonathan  Goodwin,  Jr.,  later  Chicago  agent,  was 
named.  He  also  served  as  Assistant  Secretary  but 
two  vears;  and  the  position  was  not  again  revived 
until  1S67,  when,  as  our  later  story  will  disclose,  it 
was  re-created  for  a  man  who  was  to  exert  a  tremendous 
influence  in  the  affairs  of  the  Company  for  over  half 
a  century  to  come. 

The  -Etna  organization  was  doing  big  things  that 
count.  In  1853  the  Company  introduced  the  first 
blank  Proof  of  Loss,  and  in  the  next  few  years  inaugu- 
rated many  other  improvements  in  policy  forms  and 
methods  and  practices  in  underwriting.  An  important 
step  in  the  progress  of  scientific  and  intelligent  under- 
writing was  the  invention  by  .Etna  employees  of  the 
system  of  manuscript  charts  of  cities  and  towns, 
known  later  as  the  Sanborn  system.  For  many  years 
this  system  of  maps,  enabling  the  home  office  to 
determine  the  character  of  risks,  was  in  use  in  most 
of  the  large  fire  insurance  offices,  and  paved  the  way 
for  other  systems.  .Etna  surveyors  in  the  South 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  while  at  work  on 
diagrams  for  these  maps,  w^ere  arrested  as  suspected 
spies,  their  field  notes  confiscated,  and  they  them- 
selves turned  over  to  vigilance  committees  and  held 
until  they  proved  the  innocence  of  their  activities.  The 
xEtna  is  now  one  of  the  pioneers  in  a  movement  by 
a  group  of  strong  companies  looking  to  the  co-operative 

[98I 


I 


"OLD  .ETNA'S"  GROWING  PAINS  l^Z^i 


publication  of  a  card-system  of  mapping,  believed  to 
be  superior  to  the  maps  published  under  private 
management. 

Another  increase  in  the  capital  of  the  Company 
was  made  in  1857,  when  it  was  raised  to  the  half- 
million  mark,  and  two  years  later  to  a  full  million. 

Thomas  K.  Brace,  through  whose  inspiration, 
influence  and  initiative  the  .-^tna  was  brought  into 
existence,  and  who  had  done  such  valiant  service  in 
its  interest,  feeling  the  weight  of  years  and  failing 
health,  resigned  from  the  Presidency  of  the  Company 
in  1857,  to  the  sincere  regret  of  his  associates,  though 
he  consented  to  remain  as  a  Director.  He  died  June 
14,  i860,  in  his  eighty-first  year.  The  boast  of 
Augustus  Caesar,  'T  found  Rome  brick;  I  leave  it 
marble,"  might,  in  its  spirit,  have  been  applied  to 
Brace  in  relation  to  the  /Etn3..  But  he  had  not  found 
it  alreadv  made;  he  was  one  of  those  who  had  founded 
it;  he  had  seen  it  slowlv  and  surelv  rise  from  a  small 
struggling  organization,  during  the  thirty-nine  years  of 
his  devoted  service,  into  a  mighty  national  institution, 
known  and  honored  in  every  section  of  the  country'. 
The  foundation  had  not  only  been  well  and  faithfully 
laid,  but  many  stories  had  been  built  in  the  great 
edifice  it  was  to  become.  No  history  of  the  .-Etna 
would  be  just  or  complete  without  givnng  to  Brace 
full  credit  for  the  splendid  part  he  took  in  making  that 
history  what  it  is.  In  their  resolutions  of  appreciation 
and  regret  adopted  by  the  Directors  on  his  death, 
they  fittingly  referred  to  him  as  "the  projector  and 
principal  founder  of  this  Institution." 

[99I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


The  resignation  of  President  Brace  in  1857  made  a 
number  of  changes  and  promotions  necessary.  Mr. 
Ripley  succeeded  to  the  Presidency,  Mr.  Alexander 
became  Vice-President,  and  Thomas  K.  Brace,  Jr., 
was  elected  Secretary.  The  duties  of  the  position 
proved  too  great  a  drain  on  the  health  of  the  latter, 
and  he  resigned  four  years  later,  at  which  time  he 
succeeded  his  father  as  a  Director,  a  post  he  retained 
until  1870,  the  year  of  his  death. 

By  1858  the  iiEtna  had  extended  its  business  across 
the  entire  continent  to  the  Pacific  coast.  The  Com- 
pany was  now  enjoying  rare  prosperity,  money  was 
coming  in  freely,  and  there  were  years  of  comparative 
immunity  from  heavy  losses.  This  stream  of  pros- 
perity seemed  to  excite  unduly  a  large  and  influential 
element  among  the  stockholders.  They  felt  that  a 
premium  received  was  a  premium  earned,  and  in  their 
zeal  for  profits  forgot  the  liability  that  stood  behind 
every  dollar  paid  in  by  policy-holders. 

This  brings  us  to  one  of  the  strong  features  of 
President  Ripley's  administration.  He  was  enthusi- 
astic for  a  large  reserve  fund,  and  worked  loyally  to 
maintain  one.  Reserves  for  insurance  were  not  then 
made  mandatory  by  law;  but  President  Ripley  knew, 
and  the  Board  of  Directors  knew,  the  danger  of  paying 
dividends  that  left  no  reserve.  They  insisted  that, 
independent  of  its  capital  and  in  addition  to  it,  an 
insurance  company  should  at  all  times  have  a  fund 
sufficient  to  reinsure  its  outstanding  risks,  a  policy 
now  generally  recognized  as  of  fundamental  import- 
ance and  enforced   by  law.     The   Ripley   forces  won 

[100] 


"OLD  ETNA'S"  GROWING  PAINS 

the  victory,  to  the  great  credit  and  prestige  of  the 
iEtna,  to  that  of  Hartford  as  an  insurance  center,  and 
to  the  general  cause  of  fire  insurance  in  America. 

President  Ripley  did  much  to  lift  fire  insurance 
into  something  like  scientific  underwriting.  A  chance 
question  as  to  whether  the  Company  made  money 
on  the  insurance  of  paper  mills  startled  him  because 
he  could  not  answer  it.  But  it  started  a  train  of 
thought  that  led  to  definite  results.  In  a  general 
way  the  Company  knew  that  carpenter  shops,  cotton 
mills  and  certain  other  lines  were  specially  hazardous, 
but  the  knowledge  was  based  on  vague  and  indefinite 
information.  Why  not  classify  all  risks  in  the  light 
of  the  past  experience  of  his  own  and  other  companies? 
He  began  the  careful  collection  of  statistics  on  related 
risks,  thus  helping  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a 
work,  since  then  infinitely  extended,  which  has 
resulted  in  greater  security  of  fire  insurance  as  a 
business  and  has  made  the  determination  of  rates 
more  accurate. 

In  i860  the  country  stood  trembling  on  the  verge 
of  war.  The  presidential  campaign  was  feverishly 
intense  and  bitter,  particularly  in  the  South.  Feeling 
abated  to  a  degree  in  the  North  after  the  election  of 
President  Lincoln,  but  in  the  South  it  became  more 
bitter,  more  intense,  more  final;  it  was  not  a  mere 
wave  of  excitement;  it  was  deep,  terrible  earnestness. 
It  was  a  critical  time  for  the  /Etna  and  for  all  insti- 
tutions doing  a  national  business.  To  the  natural 
patriotic  emotion  that  burned  so  pure  in  the  hearts 
of  millions   that  the  Union  might  be  saved,  and  the 

[loi] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

dark  shadow  of  fear  of  all  the  horrors  of  Civil  War, 
was  added  the  natural  anxiety  for  the  safeguarding 
of  great  business  and  industrial  interests. 

The  correspondence  of  the  Company  at  this  critical 
period  was  largely  devoted  to  letters  urging  the  Northern 
agents  to  be  calm  and  courageous  and  to  face  bravely 
whatever  the  future  might  bring,  and  to  the  agents 
in  the  South,  words  of  deep  solicitude  and  the  hope 
that  a  final  break  might  be  averted.  Among  many 
letters  written  by  the  Company  officials  at  this  time 
was  one,  characteristic  of  the  others,  by  Vice-President 
Alexander  to  a  Virginia  agent,  in  which  he  wrote: 

We  concur  with  you  sincerely  in  the  hope  that  some  recourse 
of  reconciliation  will  be  found  available  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Union. 

From  this  time  forward,  there  was  a  flood  of  letters 
from  Southern  agents,  asking  for  advice.  The  /Etna 
wrote  them  to  discontinue  writing  new  business  until 
conditions  had  become  more  stable,  and  instructing 
them  to  inform  existing  policy-holders  that  "the  iEtna 
would  pay  losses  in  full  even  if  the  South  became  a 
foreign  country."  On  April  15,  1861  —  the  day  after 
the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter  and  the  very  day  of  President 
Lincoln's  first  call  for  75,000  volunteers.  President 
Ripley  again  reiterated  that  the  ^Etna  would  stand 
behind  all  its  promises.  In  a  letter  to  Richard  Curd, 
agent  at  Macon,  Georgia,  he  wrote: 

AH  honest  claims  under  our  policies  will  be  recognized 
by  this  Company,  no  matter  where  the  claimant  may  be  located. 
The  spirit  of  war  seems  to  be  aroused  in  all  parts  of  the 
country.  May  the  end  of  all  wars  —  Peace  —  be  speedily 
brought  about. 

[102] 


'OLD  ETNA'S"  GROWING  PAINS 


Three  days  later  the  Southern  agents  were  notified 
to  Insert  this  "War  Clause"  in  all  outstanding  policies: 

Warranted  by  the  assured  free  from  claims  for  loss  or  damage 
arising  from  civil  commotion  or  from  piracy,  seizure,  sequestration 
or  detention  or  the  consequences  of  any  other  hostile  act  of  the 
government  or  people,  person  or  persons  of  any  state  of  the 
United  States  of  America  or  of  any  state  or  states  claiming  to 
have  seceded  therefrom. 

But  conditions  were  too  bad,  from  the  standpoint 
of  difficulties  of  communication,  sectional  bitterness 
and  other  reasons,  to  continue  any  further  southern 
business,  and  in  May  all  /Etna  agencies  in  the  South 
were  discontinued. 

In  July,  1861,  Secretary  Brace,  whose  health  was 
breaking  down  under  the  growing  and  exacting  needs 
of  the  Secretaryship,  resigned,  and  Lucius  J.  Hendee, 
agent  of  the  y^tna  at  Hebron,  Connecticut,  was  elected 
to  succeed  him. 

In  August,  1862,  there  was  deep  sorrow  and  regret 
when  the  news  was  brought  to  the  ^tna  office  that 
President  Ripley  had  just  died.  He  had  been  for 
nine  years  an  active  official  of  the  Company,  and  had, 
in  his  short  term  of  five  years  as  President,  made  a 
splendid  record,  not  only  in  carrying  on  but  in  advanc- 
ing the  traditions  and  prestige  of  his  office. 

During  the  century  of  the  ^Etna's  existence  the 
policy  of  promotion  for  merit  has  been  a  dominating 
principle,  from  which  there  have  been  few  departures. 
When  Secretary  Perkins  retired  in  1828  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  assistant,  James  M.  Goodwin;  when 
he  resigned  in  1837  his  assistant,  Simeon  L.  Loomis, 
was  promoted;    when    he   left    the    Company  in   1853 

[  103 1 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


he  was  succeeded  by  Edwin  G.  Ripley,  whose  active 
service  as  Director  and  personal  assistant  to  President 
Brace  since  1847  made  him  the  logical  successor;  on 
his  promotion  to  Vice-President  in  1854,  Thomas 
A.  Alexander  was  advanced  from  his  post  of  New 
York  City  agent  to  the  position  thus  made  vacant; 
likewise,  when  Ripley  was  elected  President  in  1857, 
Alexander  succeeded  him  as  Vice-President. 

It  was  therefore  in  keeping  with  the  policy  of 
rewarding  faithful  and  meritorious  service  that  Vice- 
President  Alexander  was  now  chosen  by  unanimous 
vote  of  the  Directors  for  the  post  of  honor  and  responsi- 
bility made  vacant  by  the  death  of  President  Ripley. 
For  nearly  twenty  years  he  had  labored  loyally  and 
efficiently  in  the  Company's  interests,  and  thus  brought 
to  his  new  and  greater  duties  the  accumulated  wisdom 
of  long  experience,  ripened  judgment  and  expert 
knowledge  of  every  phase  of  the  business.  In  many 
ways  President  Alexander  found  larger  and  graver 
responsibilities  than  those  of  any  of  his  predecessors, 
for  the  future  of  every  American  institution  was  now 
darkened  by  the  clouds  and  storms  of  civil  war  which 
threatened  the  life  of  the  very  nation  itself.  He  was 
succeeded  as  Vice-President  by  Henry  Z.  Pratt,  who 
for  many  years  had  been  an  active  member  of  the 
Board  of  Directors.  Mr.  Pratt's  death  in  1863  ended 
his  service  as  Vice-President  in  less  than  a  year,  and 
the  position  was  abolished,  not  to  be  revived  for  more 
than  twenty-five  years. 

The  i^tna  was  now  realizing  how  big  a  company  it 
was.     Despite  the  war  it  was  enjoying  the  pleasurable 

[104] 


'OLD  .ETNA'S"  GROWING  PAINS 


pangs  of  growing  pains.  In  January,  1864,  it  was 
granted  an  amendment  to  its  charter  authorizing  a 
half-milHon  dollar  increase  in  its  capital,  to  be  paid  for 
out  of  surplus  earnings.  Other  increases  followed, 
and  in  June,  1865,  the  capital  was  raised  to  $3,000,000. 
This  prosperity  of  the  Company  during  the  trying 
years  of  war,  with  a  large  part  of  its  regular  field 
of  operations  debarred  from  occupation,  reveals 
eloquently  its  solidity  and  the  prudence  and  soundness 
of  its  management.  It  was  now  ready  for  the  new 
era  of  national  peace,  which,  strangely  enough,  brought 
the  Company  face  to  face  with  graver  perils  than  it 
had  been  compelled  to  meet  during  the  war  or  during 
the  preceding  half  century  of  its  existence. 


[105] 


Chapter  VIII 

NEW  TIMES  AND  NEW  FACES 

AFTER  the  close  of  the  war  came  a  new  era, 
a  period  of  readjustment  and  reconstruction; 
business,  Hke  the  nation  itself,  was  again  free, 
with  the  hampering  and  burdening  restrictions  of 
four  long  years  removed. 

These  were  trying  years  in  the  history  of  the 
Company  in  the  arduous  duties  devolving  on  the 
President.  In  October,  1865,  Mr.  Alexander  broke 
down  under  the  strain,  and  feeling  unable  to  continue 
his  labors,  reluctantly  sent  in  his  resignation.  Perhaps 
believing  that  the  end  was  not  far  off  and  that  it  would 
ease  his  mind  a  little  were  he  to  feel  he  was  still  in 
the  harness,  the  Directors  took  no  action  on  his  resig- 
nation, so  he  remained  nominally  as  President,  though 
relieved  of  all  duties,  until  his  death  on  April  29  of 
the  year  following. 

Though  Mr.  Alexander  enjoyed  the  honor  of  the 
Presidency  for  but  the  brief  period  of  four  years,  they 
were  vital  years  in  its  history,  and,  despite  the  Civil 
War  then  raging,  were  prosperous  for  the  Company. 
Beginning  his  career  with  the  ^Etna  in  1842  as  a  clerk 
in  the  New  York  City  agency,  he  had  advanced  steadily 

[106] 


NEW  TIMES  AND  NEW  FACES 


from  local  agent  in  New  York  to  the  successive  posi- 
tions of  Secretary,  Director,  Vice-President  and  Presi- 
dent in  his  twenty-four  years.  He  was  an  able 
underwriter,  an  official  of  rare  efficiency,  and  of  fine 
character  as  a  man.  The  Company  suffered  a  real 
loss  in  his  death. 

The  i^tna  was  singularly  fortunate  in  the  selection 
of  its  Presidents.  They  were  men  trained  in  its 
principles  and  its  ideals,  who  had  proved  ever  equal  to 
each  new  responsibility.  Lucius  J.  Hendee,  who  had 
been  Secretary  for  five  years,  was  elected  President, 
and  Jotham  Goodnow  of  New  Haven,  who  was  later 
to  be  President,  became  Secretary. 

President  Hendee  entered  on  his  new  duties  at 
the  age  of  48,  the  very  prime  of  life.  He  was  born  at 
Andover,  Connecticut,  and  took  his  first  lessons  in 
underwriting  as  assistant  to  his  uncle,  Abner  Hendee, 
the  iEtna  agent  at  Hebron,  Connecticut.  In  1852  he 
succeeded  him  as  agent.  His  faithfulness  and  his 
unusual  ability  in  conducting  the  agency  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  home  office,  which  kept  a  sharp 
lookout  for  a  special  quality  of  brains  among  its  men, 
and  he  was  the  choice  for  Secretary  in  1861,  on  the 
resignation  of  Thomas  K.  Brace,  Jr.  His  record  in 
this  position,  his  sound  judgment,  as  well  as  his  long 
experience  in  underwriting,  gave  assurance  that  he 
would  make  good  as  President,  and  he  did. 

The  prosperity  of  the  Com.pany  for  the  few  years 
preceding  1866  was  surprising.  In  the  seventeen 
years  from  1849  to  1866,  carrying  with  them  four 
years    of    war,    the    capital    rose    from    $300,000    to 

[107] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


$3,000,000  —  but  even  this  capital  did  not  seem 
sufficient,  for  in  1866  the  Legislature  was  asked  for  a 
charter  amendment  to  increase  the  capital  to  ^5,000,000. 
No  further  action  was  taken  on  this,  however,  until 
1877,  when  the  desired  authorization  was  granted. 
Meanwhile,  stirring  events  were  to  occur. 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  Company  demanded  not 
only  more  capital  but  a  larger  building.  The  working 
force  in  the  home  office,  which  for  some  years  had  been 
steadily  increasing  in  numbers,  was  chafing  under  the 
congestion  and  inconvenience  of  quarters  that  were 
now  proving  wholly  inadequate.  In  November,  1867, 
the  Building  Committee,  appointed  two  years  before, 
to  arrange  for  the  erection  of  a  new  home  for  the 
Company,  reported  its  work  completed,  and  the  cost 
of  the  new  building  as  a  little  less  than  $125,000. 
It  was  a  fine  four-story,  brown-stone  house,  thoroughly 
up-to-date  in  its  appointments,  located  at  No.  670 
Main  Street,  and  served  from  1867  to  1903  as  the 
headquarters  of  the  Company. 

With  the  entry  into  the  new  building,  a  new  man, 
destined  to  be  a  vital  factor  in  the  future  of  the  ^tna, 
became  associated  with  the  Company.  It  was  on 
November  30,  1867,  that  William  B.  Clark  was 
made  Assistant  Secretary  and  entered  on  the  career 
that  was  to  lead  him  to  the  Presidency  of  the  ^tna 
and  to  a  service  that  was  to  run  well  over  fifty  years. 

It  was  in  Hartford,  on  June  29,  1841,  that  Mr. 
Clark  was  bot-n.  His  early  education  at  one  of  the 
public  schools  in  his  native  city  was  followed  by  a  year 
in  the  high  school  at  New  Britain  and  later  at  a  private 

[108] 


OFFICE  OF  THE  .4i;TNA  INSURANCE  COMPANY 

1867-1903 


NEW  TIMES  AND  NEW  FACES 


school  kept  by  one  of  his  uncles.  The  young  boy 
wanted  to  work  —  a  habit  which  he  never  outgrew  — 
although  his  father,  Abel  N.  Clark,  who  was  proprietor 
and  manager  of  the  Hartford  Courant^  desired  him  to 
continue  his  education.  He  was  employed  in  the 
Mercantile  Bank  of  Hartford  for  six  weeks,  and  then 
he  went  into  his  father's  office  just  to  help  out  with 
the  collecting  *'for  a  few  days."  He  had  been  there 
a  year,  when  one  day  Nicholas  Harris,  principal  of  a 
private  school  where  young  Clark  was  studying  book- 
keeping in  spare  hours,  entered  the  Courant  office 
with  an  advertisement  for  a  bookkeeper  which  he 
desired  inserted  in   the  paper. 

Mr.  Clark,  Sr.,  saw  the  advertisement,  learned 
that  the  company  desiring  help  was  the  Phoenix  Insur- 
ance Company,  and  after  an  interview  secured  the 
position  for  his  son.  The  advertisement  thus  served 
its  purpose  without  ever  appearing  in  print. 

"So,"  said  William  B.  Clark,  President  of  the 
iEtna  Insurance  Company,  as  he  related  the  incident 
more  than  sixty  years  later,  "at  eight  o'clock  on 
Monday  morning,  January  19,  1857,  I  stood  at  the 
foot  of  the  stairs  of  the  Phoenix  office  waiting  for  some 
one  to  come  and  unlock  the  door." 

The  President  of  the  Phoenix  was  our  friend  of 
earlier  years,  Simeon  L.  Loomis,  who  had  been  the 
genial  and  successful  Secretary  of  the  ^Etna  from 
1837  to  1853.  Young  Clark  remiained  bookkeeper 
but  a  short  time  when  he  was  promoted  to  cashier. 
His  salary  had  risen  from  ^300  a  year  to  ^500,  when 
one  January,  while  making  up  the  salary  list  of  the 

[1C9] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


employees,  he  left  blank  the  amount  of  his  own. 
When  asked  by  Mr.  Kellogg,  Secretary  of  the  Com- 
pany, the  reason  for  this  omission,  he  said: 

"I  have  rather  been  in  hopes  that  I  could  fill  it 
in  for  a  larger  amount." 

"What  was  the  amount  you  had  in  mind?" 

"Eight  hundred  dollars,"  was  the  prompt  reply. 

Kellogg  saw  the  point;  so  did  Loomis  when  the 
situation  was  explained  by  the  Secretary;  the  raise 
went  through  without  a  murmur  and  Clark  never  again 
had  to  ask  for  an  increase  —  it  just  came. 

He  had  been  only  two  or  three  years  with  the 
Phoenix,  when  he  became  assistant  to  the  President. 
On  Loomis'  death  in  1863,  Clark  was  made  Secretary, 
holding  this  position  for  four  years,  when  the  offer  of 
a  higher  salary  and  greater  prospects  of  advancement 
led  him  to  go  to  the  ^tna.  President  Loomis  knew 
underwriting,  knew  it  thoroughly  from  A  to  Z;  he 
was  full  of  his  subject,  enthusiastic  and  eloquent,  and 
no  one  who  wanted  to  ''learn  all  the  complexities  of 
underwriting  could  have  had  a  better  teacher,  and 
Loomis  could  not  have  had  a  keener,  quicker  pupil 
than  his  young  assistant.  Many  years  later,  when 
William  B.  Clark  was  an  acknowledged  leader  in  the 
world  of  fire  insurance,  he  paid  a  graceful  and  affec- 
tionate tribute  to  his  early  mentor  and  friend,  when 
he  said:  "No  man  ever  did  more  for  his  own  son 
than  Simeon  L.  Loomis  did  for  me." 

When  Clark  went  to  the  /Etna,  though  nominally 
only  Assistant  Secretary  he  was  in  reality  the 
underwriting  Secretary  of  the  Company;  for  Secretary 

[iiol 


NEW  TIMES  AND  NEW  FACES 


Goodnow,  though  trained  in  the  details  of  banking, 
had  no  experience  in  the  business  of  insurance.  So 
in  all  the  long  years  that  followed,  waiting  for  promotion 
and  fuller  official  recognition  of  what  he  was  doing, 
his  actual  position  was  even  higher  than  what  might 
have  been  inferred  from  his  title,  important  as  that 
was  and  is  to-day.  He  had  been  only  four  years  with 
the  ^tna  when  the  Company  faced  its  greatest  crisis. 


fill] 


Chapter  IX 

THE  ETNA'S  COURAGEOUS  STAND 

ANEVERTO-BE-FORGOTTEN  year  in  the  history 
of  the  JEtna.,  of  the  insurance  world,  and,  in  fact, 
of  the  whole  country,  was  1871  —  the  year  of 
the  Chicago  fire,  the  greatest  conflagration  the  United 
States  had  ever  known.  On  Sunday  evening,  October 
8th,  it  began;  whether  from  the  misadventure  of 
a  cow  kicking  over  a  lighted  lamp  in  a  stable,  or 
the  carelessness  of  a  party  of  card-players,  is  not  defi- 
nitely known.  The  fire  raged  all  that  night,  all  the 
next  day  and  until  well  past  noon  on  Tuesday. 

The  catastrophe,  which  was  appalling,  started 
near  the  lumber  district  of  the  West  Side,  and  fanned 
by  a  high  and  veering  wind,  it  seemed  nothing  could 
stay  its  course;  the  flames  jumped  the  river  to  the 
South  Side  with  the  ease  of  a  fine  horse  taking  a  hurdle, 
and  spread  rapidly  to  the  North  Side.  Rain  on  Monday 
night  helped  a  little  to  conquer  the  fire,  but  not 
sufficiently,  for  all  that  night  the  whole  city  was  one 
raging  furnace. 

Mere  figures,  eloquent  as  they  are,  tell  but  a  part 
of  the  awful  story.  Two-thirds  of  the  city's  buildings 
were  of  wood,  and  because  of  an  excessively  hot,  dry 

[112] 


THE  ETNA'S  COURAGEOUS  STAND 


summer  they  were  but  tinder  boxes.  One-third  of 
the  roof  surface  of  the  entire  city  and  two-thirds  of  the 
cubic  contents  of  all  the  buildings  were  destroyed. 
The  burnt  area  was  2,024  acres;  17,450  houses  were 
reduced  to  ashes,  250  lives  were  lost  and  100,000  people 
were  rendered  homeless.  Thousands  of  the  frantic 
people  of  the  burning  city  sought  refuge  on  the  lake 
shore,  and  even  in  the  waters  of  the  lake  itself. 

There  were  grim  tense  faces  in  the  Directors'  Room 
of  the  iEtna  at  this  time;  there  were  practically  all 
day  sessions;  the  maps  and  charts  were  eagerly  scanned 
and  discussed  as  each  new  word  came  by  telegraph  from 
some  town  near  the  burning  city.  At  this  time  the 
Company's  Chicago  agents  were  Jonathan  Goodwin, 
Jr.,  former  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Company,  Henry 
L.  Pasco,  a  former  special  Agent  for  the  home  office, 
and  James  S.  Gadsden,  who  had  charge  of  the  inland 
marine  underwriting  at  Chicago.  E.  J.  Bassett,  General 
Agent  of  the  .^tna,  and  Special  Agent  J.  C.  Hilliard 
hurried  to  Chicago  to  be  on  the  spot  and  aid  in  the 
adjustment  of  losses.  Assistant  Secretary  Clark  was 
also  rushed  West  from  the  home  office  to  secure,  for  a 
special  meeting  of  the  stockholders,  complete  informa- 
tion as  to  losses  of  the  Company. 

Two  dramatic  scenes  in  i^^tna  history,  vitally 
connected  yet  distinct,  were  now  being  enacted 
simultaneously  a  thousand  miles  apart.  In  Hartford, 
the  Directors,  as  in  their  two  earlier  big  fires,  decided 
instantly  that  every  dollar  of  loss  must  and  should  be 
paid;  the  only  question  to  be  determined  was  the 
manner  in  which  it  would  be  done,  the  sacrifices  that 

8  [113I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


would  be  made,  and  the  amount  of  the  exact  loss. 
General  Agent  Bassett  estimated  this  at  $3,500,000; 
but  it  was  little  more  than  guessing,  for  he  could  find 
no  trace  of  the  agency  books  and  papers  and  concluded 
they  had  all  been  burned.  This  happily  proved  later 
to  be  a  mistake,  for  most  of  the  records  were  saved; 
but  there  was  an  interim  when  they  could  not  be 
found.  This  was  specially  trying  in  the  case  of  policies 
issued  shortly  before  the  fire  which  had  not  been 
forwarded  to  the  home  office  in  Hartford.  Many  of 
these  were  discovered  when  people  brought  in  their 
policies  for  settlement  of  their  claims. 

While  President  Hendee  and  the  Directors  were 
planning  how  to  raise  the  funds,  for  "every  dollar 
must  be  paid,"  was  their  slogan  and  their  inspiration, 
a  different  scene  was  being  enacted  at  the  other  end, 
in  Chicago.  General  Agent  Bassett  could  have  no 
more  inspiring  message  to  deliver  to  the  panic-stricken 
insurers  in  his  Company  than  the  one  he  was  given 
to  deliver:    "Every  dollar  of  loss  shall  be  paid." 

The  people,  homeless,  hungry,  hopeless,  after  the 
fire  was  finally  extinguished,  had  one  thought,  supreme, 
persistent,  dominating,  "What  will  the  insurance 
company  do?"  It  soon  became  manifest  that  many 
of  the  companies  would  become  bankrupt;  and  the 
people,  learning  of  this,  became  almost  one  great  angry, 
half-crazed  mob.  Ex-Governor  Marshall  Jewell  of 
Connecticut,  who  was  a  large  stockholder  and  a 
director  of  the  Phoenix  Company  of  Hartford,  happened 
to  be  in  Detroit  when  the  great  fire  broke  out,  and 
hurried  to  Chicago  to  take  care  of  the  interests  of  his 

[114I 


THE  /ETNA'S  COURAGEOUS  STAND 


company.  Soon  after  his  arrival  he  met  General 
Agent  Bassett  of  the  iEtna,  and  together  they  decided 
that  their  first  imperative  duty  was  to  make  known 
to  the  people  the  stand  that  their  respective  com- 
panies had  taken  in  regard  to  the  payment  of  losses. 

On  the  morning  of  Friday  the  13th  of  October 
they  stood  together  on  the  banks  of  the  Chicago 
River,  facing  ruins,  ruins,  ruins  as  far  as .  the  eye 
could  see.  In  the  picturesque  language  of  Frederick 
Law  Olmsted,  "it  was  possible  from  the  top  of  an 
omnibus  to  see  men  standing  on  the  ground  three 
miles  away,  across  what  was  once  the  densest,  loftiest 
and  most  substantial  part  of  the  city."  Around 
Bassett  and  Jewell  were  gathered  a  great  crowd  of 
people,  sullen,  stunned,  yet  at  times  with  the  tense 
repression  that  portends  an  outburst.  Both  men 
were  known;  the  crowd  awaited  with  feverish  interest 
the  first  words  they  were  to  speak. 

Mounting  a  barrel,  Bassett  told  his  brief  story, 
amid  a  hush  that  was  tense  and  dramatic.  The  speech 
may  not  have  been  a  m.asterpiece  of  eloquence,  but  the 
words,  "The  i^tna  will  pay  every  dollar  of  loss,  and 
I  will  now  pay  in  full  the  first  claim  to  be  presented," 
was  eloquence  enough  for  the  audience,  if  cheers  were 
needed  as  proof.  Then  Bassett  signed,  on  his  barrel- 
head desk,  a  check  for  $7,350  to  the  order  of  John 
B.  Drake,  in  full  settlement  of  all  demands  under 
policy  No.  34,382. 

A  few  feet  away.  Governor  Jewell,  standing  on 
an  up-ended  dry-goods  box,  spoke  similar  words  for  the 
Phoenix  and  paid  the  first  claim  made  to  his  company 

[115] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


by  giving  a  check  for  $10,000  to  Isaac  F.  Day.  Those 
fortunate  enough  to  be  insured  in  either  of  these 
companies  went  away,  their  faces  wreathed  in  smiles 
and  with  the  glad  light  of  new  hope  in  their  eyes,  while 
others  wondered  what  their  companies  would  do. 

Back  in  Hartford  the  Directors  were  busy  dis- 
cussing, planning  and  preparing  to  meet  the  great 
loss.  The  amount  to  be  paid  was  estimated  to  be 
$3,066,030,  though  it  finally  proved  to  be  $3,750,000; 
and  here  the  great  value  of  the  reserve  fund  vindicated 
itself,  though,  of  course,  inadequate  to  cover  fully  an 
appalling  demand  such  as  had  never  been  even  con- 
templated by  any  insurance  company.  The  Finance 
Committee  of  the  /Etna  was  authorized  to  sell  stocks 
and  bonds  of  the  Company  and  to  borrow  $300,000 
from  the  United  States  Trust  Company.  The  further 
action  required  was  to  be  presented  to  the  stockholders 
at  a  meeting  to  be  held  on  November  9th. 

At  this  meeting,  which  was  a  crowded  affair,  a 
detailed  statement  of  the  condition  of  the  Company, 
and  estimating  the  Chicago  losses,  was  given,  of  which 
the  following  is  a  synopsis: 

Gross  Assets  $6 ,  226 ,  703 .  48 

Liabilities 

Branch  Losses  Outstanding  ^115, 000 .  00 

Home  Office  Outstanding  200 ,  691 .  86 

Losses  at  Chicago  3,066,030.00 

13,381,721.86 
Net  Assets  $2 ,  844 ,  98 1 .  62 

Reinsurance  Reserve  i ,  800 ,  000 .  00 

The  plan  then  proposed  and  submitted  to  the 
meeting  was  to  reduce  the  capital  of  the   Company 

[116] 


THE  ^.TNA'S  COURAGEOUS  STAND  T^ 


from  $3,000,000  to  $1,500,000,  thus  cutting  the  holdings 
of  each  stockholder  squarely  in  half,  and  then  to  sell 
$1,500,000  of  new  stock,  thus  bringing  the  total  capital 
back  to  normal.  The  new  stock  was  to  be  sold  on 
terms  of  20  per  cent,  in  cash,  40  per  cent,  in  notes 
payable  in  six  months  and  40  per  cent,  in  twelve 
months'  notes.  This  was  the  plan  proposed,  and 
within  five  days  $900,000  of  the  $1,500,000  of  new 
stock  had  been  subscribed  for  by  old  stockholders. 

How  the  stockholders  acted  in  this  crisis,  their 
fine  spirit  of  trust  and  co-operation,  cannot  be  better 
told  than  in  the  few  lines  of  a  letter  written  by  President 
Hendee,  the  day  following  this  meeting,  to  General 
Agent  Bassett  in  Chicago: 

Our  stockholders'  meeting  yesterday  was  all  that  could  be 
desired.  It  was  fully  attended,  not  an  unkind  or  fault-finding 
word  was  said,  and  the  votes  reducing  and  increasing  stock 
were  carried  unanimously.  The  room  over  the  office  and  the 
hall  adjoining  were  well  filled  by  a  good  looking  company  of 
men  and  women.  It  was  a  glorious  meeting  and  its  action  cannot 
fail  to  establish  the  credit  of  the  "JEtna."  for  all  times. 

The  mortality  among  the  two  hundred  and  two 
fire  insurance  companies  involved  by  the  fire  was 
great,  as  sixty-eight,  or  about  one-third,  were  compelled 
to  retire  from  business  at  once,  eighty-one  either 
suspended  temporarily  or  withdrew  from  active 
operations  outside  their  own  states,  and  fifty-three 
paid  their  losses  in  full.  In  1909,  of  the  companies 
that  paid  losses  at  the  Chicago  fire,  only  thirty-five 
still  remained  in  business. 

History  was  repeating  itself,  as  after  the  fires  of 
New  York   in   '35    and    45;     there    was    a    killing-ofF 

[117] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


of  the  weak  companies,  a  strengthening  of  the  strong 
and  the  organization  of  new  ones.  Prudent  corporations 
grew  even  more  prudent,  transformed  their  losses  as 
far  as  possible  into  new  wisdom,  and  moved  forward 
with  new  courage  and  confidence  because  of  their 
memories  of  crises  bravely  lived  through  and  ot 
having  mastered  conditions  that  were  adverse  instead 
of  being  mastered  by  them. 

The  public  that  had  been  buying  "cheap"  insurance 
now  began  again  to  realize  that  adequate  rates  were 
an  essential  to  the  furnishing,  by  the  companies,  ot 
sound  indemnity.  Those  who  had  been  protesting 
loudly  that  the  companies  were  making  too  much 
money,  piped  in  a  lower  key  or  relapsed  into  silence 
as  the  gigantic  insurance  expense-bill  of  the  Chicago 
fire  was  discussed  in  the  newspapers  of  the  country. 

The  National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters,  which  had 
been  organized  in  1866,  had  done  good  work  in  its  few 
years  of  existence  before  the  fire.  It  was  an  organization 
whose  members  were  insurance  companies  who  got 
together  at  that  time  with  four  principal  objects:  one, 
to  establish  and  maintain,  so  far  as  practicable,  a 
system  of  uniform  rates  of  premium;  second,  a  similar 
work  on  a  uniform  rate  of  compensation  to  agents 
and  brokers;  third,  to  repress  incendiarism  and  arson 
by  combining  to  punish  offenders;  fourth,  to  work 
for  the  common  needs  and  prosperity  of  its  members. 
In  this  connection  it  should  be  noted  that  with  the 
passing  years,  the  National  Board  gradually  discon- 
tinued all  activities  relating  to  the  subject  of  premium 
rates,  and  more  and  more  has  turned  its  attention  to 

[118] 


THE  ETNA'S  COURAGEOUS  STAND 


the   great    problem    of  fire    prevention.     Jt    now    has 
nothing  to  do  with  rates. 

After  the  fire,  the  National  Board  promptly  took 
hold  of  the  general  situation,  while  rates  were  promptly 
advanced  to  a  safe  basis  and  there  was  no  protest 
from  the  public.  State  boards  and  local  boards  in 
smaller  towns  were  formed  and  a  temporary  reform 
followed,  but  within  sixty  days  reports  of  rate-slashing 
came  to  the  Board,  and  it  was  recognized  that  the 
Board  must  itself  grow  into  a  stronger  position  where 
it  could  command  rather  than  merely  recommend. 
Legislation,  at  this  time,  took  up  again  the  question 
of  the  need  of  a  legally  enforced  demand  for  a 
reinsurance  reserve  fund,  and  many  states  enacted 
laws  to  that  end. 

Hardly  had  the  ^Etna  begun  to  take  a  long  breath, 
after  closing  up  the  infinite  details  in  settling  the 
losses  incident  to  the  Chicago  fire,  when  in  November, 
1872,  the  Company  was  visited  by  a  new  conflagration. 
This  time  it  was  in  Boston  with  an  appalling  loss.  The 
terrible  fire  that  swept  the  business  part  of  the  city 
destroyed  seven  hundred  and  seventy-six  buildings, 
all  but  sixty-seven  of  which  were  of  granite  or  brick. 
The  flames  raged  over  sixty-six  acres  and  entailed  a 
total  loss  of  about  $75,000,000.  Thirty-two  fire 
insurance  companies  were  rendered  insolvent,  of  which 
twenty-six  were  Massachusetts  corporations.  The 
^tna  loss  was  $1,634,000,  a  rather  staggering  sum  to 
pay  within  a  year  after  the  Chicago  fire. 

There  was  another  stockholders'  meeting,  which 
might  well  have  discouraged  a  body  of  men  and  women 

[119] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

who  had  so  wilHngly  and  loyally  stood  by  the  Company 
so  short  a  time  before.  But  there  were  no  signs  of 
discouragement  or  dismay;  they  took  their  medicine 
bravely.  They  voted  to  again  reduce  the  capital, 
this  time  from  $3,000,000  to  $2,000,000,  and  to  increase 
to  the  $3,000,000  again  by  the  issue  of  $1,000,000  of 
stock.  This  new  capital  was  rapidly  provided  and 
the  Company  again  moved  serenely  on  its  way. 

The  two  great  fires  led  the  /Etna,  to  watch  even 
more  carefully  than  before  the  character  of  its  risks  and 
to  distribute  them  even  more  cautiously.  In  1873  the 
Directors  decided  to  reduce  lines  of  insurance  in  cities 
and  large  towns;  and  though  this  action  might  seem 
one  where  the  wisdom  of  the  Directors  would  be  final, 
yet  the  matter  was  brought  up  at  a  stockholders' 
meeting.  The  stockholders  gave  what  was  practically 
a  vote  of  confidence  when  they  officially  endorsed  the 
action  of  the  Directors. 

The  question  of  insuring  in  large  cities  came  up 
again  in  the  year  following,  when  the  Board  voted  to 
close  the  agencies  at  New  York,  Chicago  and  Boston 
and  to  make  new  arrangements  for  a  better  control 
of  the  situation  by  establishing  branch  offices  in  these 
cities.  For  New  York,  James  A.  Alexander,  who  had 
succeeded  his  father  as  agent  in  1853,  was  appointed 
Manager  at  a  salary  of  $10,000  a  year,  and  for  the 
similar  position  in  the  Chicago  branch  Jonathan 
Goodwin,  Jr.,  who  had  been  agent  there  at  the  time 
of  the  great  fire,  was  appointed  at  $7,500  a  year.  No 
action  was  taken  in  the  matter  of  Boston. 

At  the  beginning  of  1877   the  Legislature  granted 

[120] 


THE  /ETNA'S  COURAGEOUS  STAND 


an  amendment  to  the  charter  permitting  the  Company 
to  increase  its  capital  to  $5,000,000.  This  action  was 
in  continuation  of  an  appeal  to  the  Legislature  eleven 
years  before.  The  Company  did  not  require  any  such 
increase  at  this  time,  but  it  was  part  of  their  wisdom 
to  look  ahead  when  it  might  be  necessary  in  a  crisis 
or  when  the  needs  of  expansion  made  it  good  to  have 
this  financial  resource  waiting  and  instantly  available. 
At  any  rate,  no  action  was  taken  in  the  way  of  using 
this  privilege  until  four  years  later  when  it  was  voted 
to  increase  the  capital  to  $4,000,000,  to  be  offered  to 
stockholders  at  ten  per  cent,  payable  in  cash  and  the 
balance  in  properly  secured  notes. 

In  1882  the  Board,  in  recognition  of  President 
Hendee's  twenty  years  of  service  with  the  Company, 
voted  him  an  honorarium  of  $7,500;  a  graceful  and 
just  tribute  to  his  devoted  and  wise  guidance  of  the 
/Etna  through  a  critical  period. 

It  was  in  1883  that  the  Board  of  Directors  was 
strengthened  and  enriched  by  the  election  of  a  new 
member,  a  man  of  national  importance  in  the  world  of 
finance  and  one  whose  counsel  was  of  great  value. 
This  new  Director  was  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  who 
seemed  naturally  to  follow,  in  the  third  generation,  the 
footsteps  of  his  father  and  his  grandfather  in  the 
directorate  of  the  -^tna.  Though  there  have  been 
periods  in  the  hundred  years  of  the  history  of  the 
Company  when  the  name  of  Morgan  did  not  appear 
in  the  /Etnas  list  of  Directors,  there  was  never  an 
hour  in  that  century  when  the  family  was  not  interested 
as  stockholders. 

[121] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

It  was  at  the  age  of  forty-six  that  Mr.  Morgan  thus 
became  officially  active  in  the  Company.  He  had 
already  done  big  things  in  finance,  but  he  was  to  do 
bigger  things  in  the  remaining  thirty  useful  years  of 
his  life,  that  were  to  make  his  name  known  the 
world  over  as  one  of  the  very  greatest  of  financial 
geniuses  of  history.  He  had  organizing  power  of  the 
highest  order,  and  was  a  strong  believer  in  the 
combination  of  allied  interests  into  a  great  new 
economic  unit  and  force.  He  brought  order  out  of 
chaos  and  harmony  out  of  discord  on  a  scale  that 
at  the  time  seemed  staggering  to  the  imagination. 
He  organized  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation, 
harmonized  the  coal  and  railway  interests  of 
Pennsylvania,  made  his  banking  house  one  of  the 
most  powerful  in  the  world,  floated  a  government 
bond  issue  of  ^62,000,000  when  it  was  needed  quickly 
in  an  emergency,  reorganized  feeble  or  broken-down 
railroad  systems  and  gave  them  the  breath  of  new 
life  and  vigor,  and  either  personally  or  through  his 
bank  had  a  hand  in  every  big  financial  movement 
in  the  country. 

This  rare,  broad-minded  man,  an  enthusiastic 
yachtsman,  a  notable  collector  of  books,  pictures 
and  other  objects  of  art,  a  generous  giver,  a  public- 
spirited  citizen,  was  surely  a  vital  addition  to  the  ^tna 
forces,  and  a  golden  memory  in  its  history  and 
tradition.  He  remained  with  the  Company  until  1913, 
the  year  of  his  death,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  his 
son,  J.  P.  Morgan,  Jr. 

At  this  period  there  were  two  amendments  to  the 

[122] 


THE  iETNA'S  COURAGEOUS  STAND 

JEtna  charter,  one,  in  1881,  permitting  the  Company  to 
write  insurance  against  damage  by  lightning  and  other 
elements  of  nature,  and  five  years  later,  one  changing 
the  date  of  the  annual  meeting  from  June  to  January. 

The  administration  of  President  Hendee  was  a 
prosperous  one  for  the  Company  in  every  way;  the 
agency  system  had  spread  as  never  before,  the  business 
of  insurance  was  growing  rapidly  into  something  more 
nearly  reduced  to  principles  and  laws,  for  underwriting 
was  evolving  through  conference,  statistics  and  classified 
experience  into  an  approach  to  a  real  science.  In  the 
twenty-two  years  since  Mr.  Hendee  assumed  the 
presidency,  the  Company  had  many  severe  fires;  besides 
the  Chicago  and  Boston  conflagrations,  which  together 
cost  the  Company  nearly  ^5,500,000,  there  were  the 
Portland  fire  in  1866  with  a  loss  of  $170,000,  the 
severest  blow  the  ^tna  had  up  to  that  time,  the 
Vicksburg  fire  the  year  following  when  $110,000  of 
the  company's  funds  was  swallowed  up,  and  the  St. 
John,  New  Brunswick,  fire,  which  entailed  a  loss  of 
$262,000  on  the  Company. 

The  post  of  president  of  a  corporation  with  such 
responsibilities  and  with  the  possibility  of  a  crisis  or 
the  shadow  of  financial  disaster  hanging  like  a  suspended 
sword  over  every  hour,  is  a  most  trying  one;  it 
exhausted  men  before  their  time,  and  in  September, 
1888,  President  Hendee,  after  suff'ering  from  heart 
disease  for  several  months,  died,  at  the  age  of  seventy. 
Besides  his  guidance  of  the  Mtna.,  Mr.  Hendee  was 
associated  actively  with  the  National  Board  of  Fire 
Underwriters  from  its  organization  in   1866.     He  was 

[123] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

for  eight  years  its  Vice-President  and  for  many  years 
served  as  a  member  of  its  Executive  Council.  His 
career  in  the  profession  was  marked  by  wise 
conservatism,  sterling  integrity  and  strict  adherence 
to  sound  business  principles. 

In  the  changes  in  the  official  personnel  of  the 
Company,  following  the  death  of  Mr.  Hendee,  Jotham 
Goodnow,  who  had  become  Secretary  of  the  ^tna 
a  month  after  Mr.  Hendee's  accession  to  the  presidency, 
was  now  elected  to  fill  the  vacant  office.  He  was  born 
in  Western  Massachusetts  in  the  very  year  that  the 
i^tna  was  organized.  When  a  young  man  he  was 
bookkeeper  in  a  large  mill;  and  one  day,  in  looking 
over  some  insurance  policies  on  the  mill  property,  he 
came  across  a  policy  of  the  JEtna..  He  opened  it 
carefully,  read  it  through  deliberately  as  though  every 
word  were  vital,  then  holding  the  paper  reverently  in 
his  hand  as  though  it  were  the  key  to  some  kingdom  of 
dreams,  he  remarked  fervently:  "If  ever  I  could 
become  Secretary  of  a  grand  old  company  like  that, 
it  would  be  the  height  of  my  ambition."  W^hat  would 
he  have  felt  if  the  hand  of  fate  had  brushed  aside  the 
curtains  hiding  the  future  and  shown  him  himself 
seated  in  the  chair  of  the  President  of  the  JEtna, 
addressing  the  Directors?  But  he  was  to  occupy 
merely  the  position  of  cashier  in  three  banks  successively 
until  in  1866,  at  the  age  of  forty-seven,  he  reached  the 
"height  of  his  ambition"  in  his  election  to  the  secre- 
taryship of  the  iEtna. 

Mr.  Goodnow's  duties  as  Secretary  from  1866  to 
the    year    of    his    promotion    to    the    presidency    had 

[124] 


THE  ETNA'S  COURAGEOUS  STAND 

materially  differed  from  those  of  most  of  his  predecessors. 
His  early  career,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  banking, 
and  he  was  untrained  in  fire  insurance.  He  was  able, 
nevertheless,  to  perform  service  of  exceptional  value 
in  the  financial  and  investment  details  of  the  business. 

During  all  of  these  years  Assistant  Secretary 
Clark  was  regarded  as  the  underwriting  expert  of  the 
organization.  And  it  was  in  recognition  of  this  quality 
that  when  Secretary  Goodnow  on  September  26,  1888, 
was  advanced  to  the  presidency,  Clark  was  promoted 
to  the  position  of  Vice-President  —  a  post  which  had 
been  unoccupied  since  the  death  of  Henry  Z.  Pratt 
more  than  twenty-five  years  before.  Four  months 
later,  on  January  17,  he  was  elected  to  the  Board  of 
Directors.  When  Mr.  Clark  entered  upon  his  new 
and  larger  duties.  President  Goodnow  was  nearly 
seventy  years  of  age,  and  it  was  only  natural  that 
the  executive  responsibilities  should  fall,  as  they 
did  very  largely,  upon  the  younger  shoulders  of  the 
new  Vice-President. 

In  the  reorganization  necessitated  by  these  changes, 
new  figures  now  appeared  in  the  official  ranks  of  the 
Company.  Captain  A.  C.  Bayne,  a  veteran  of  the 
Civil  War  who  had  entered  the  service  of  the  ^tna 
in  January,  1885,  as  special  agent  for  New  York  State 
after  serving  the  Hanover  Insurance  Company  of 
New  York  in  various  capacities  for  over  thirteen 
years,  was  called  to  the  Home  Office  and  elected 
Secretary,  while  James  F.  Dudley,  another  experienced 
underwriter,  was  chosen  Assistant  Secretary. 

Mr.  Dudley  had  entered  the  fire  insurance  business 

[125] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


in  1867  as  an  agent  for  the  Union  Fire  Insurance 
Company  in  Massachusetts.  Six  years  later  he  was 
appointed  special  agent  of  the  North  British  and 
Mercantile  Insurance  Company  for  Pennsylvania,  and 
soon  after  entered  the  service  of  the  ^tna  in  a  similar 
capacity,  his  territory  including  New  York  State  as 
well  as  Pennsylvania.  He  returned  to  the  North 
British  company  in  1885  as  Assistant  Manager,  and  it 
was  while  serving  in  this  capacity  he  was  called  back 
to  the  iEtna,  where  he  was  to  remain  until  his  death 
on  March  19,  1897. 

An  additional  Assistant  Secretaryship  was  also 
created  at  this  time  and  was  filled  by  the  promotion  of 
William  H.  King,  who  had  joined  the  office  force  of  the 
JEtna  on  June  13,  1866.  King  was  a  man  of  quiet, 
modest  and  unassuming  character,  inclined  to  minimize 
or  hide  his  talents  and  abilities.  He  had  worked 
long,  loyally  and  efficiently  in  the  interests  of  the 
Company,  and  Vice-President  Clark,  upon  whose 
recommendation  he  was  made  Assistant  Secretary, 
was  glad  of  the  opportunity  officially  to  recognize 
and  reward  by  this  promotion  not  only  the  many 
years  of  faithful  service  but  the  abilities  and  capacity 
for  larger  responsibilities  which  he  knew  King  possessed. 
In  this  connection,  mention  should  be  made  that 
King's  father,  Seth  King,  also  served  the  Company 
for  many  years  as  bookkeeper.  He  had  joined  the 
iEtna  forces  in  1838,  President  Brace  agreeing  to  give 
up  one-third  of  his  salary  and  apply  it  on  the  salary 
of  the  new  office  assistant.  He  remained  with  the 
company  continuously  for  over  thirty  years. 

[126] 


THE  .ETNA'S  COURAGEOUS  STAND 


In  November,  1892,  the  Directors  were  shocked  and 
grieved  to  learn  of  the  sudden  death  of  President 
Goodnow,  who  fell  dead  in  the  arms  of  his  wife  as  he 
entered  his  home  on  November  19th. 

The  four  short  years  of  President  Goodnow's 
administration  had  been  comparatively  uneventful, 
although  marked  by  steady  growth  and  expansion  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Company.  In  1890  the  Western 
Branch  of  the  ^tna,  which  had  been  established  in 
^^53y  was  divided,  and  a  new  department  —  the 
Northwestern  Branch  —  with  headquarters  at  Omaha 
was  organized. 

This  period  saw  also  the  retirement  from  the 
working  forces  of  the  y^tna  of  two  veterans,  Erastus 
J.  Bassett  and  J.  C.  Hilliard  —  who  had  rendered  such 
valued  service  to  the  Company  during  the  great 
Chicago  and  Boston  fires.  Mr.  Bassett  came  with 
the  iEtna  in  1862  and  Mr.  Hilliard  in  1866.  Bassett 
was  born  at  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  in  18 19, 
the  year  of  the  Etna's  birth,  and  died  on  July  26,  1891. 

On  the  death  of  President  Goodnow,  the  vacancy 
was  filled  promptly  and  as  a  matter  of  course  by  the 
election  of  William  B.  Clark.  He  had  served  the 
Company  ably  and  loyally  for  twenty-five  years,  surely 
a  long  period,  but  he  was  now  facing  a  future  that 
was  to  cover  an  even  longer  period  —  a  future  of 
prosperity,  of  progress  and  prestige,  one  of  splendid 
promise  and  finer  achievement  that  was  to  constitute 
a  new  and  greater  era  in  his  own  career  and  in  the 
history  of  the  great  Company  whose  destinies  he  was 
to  guide  and  to  guard. 

[127] 


Chapter  X 

PRESIDENT  CLARK'S  ADMINISTRATION 

WHEN  President  Clark  sat  down  at  his 
desk  in  1892  as  the  official  head  of  the 
"Leading  Fire  Insurance  Company  of 
America,"  there  must  have  been  a  reminiscent  smile 
as  his  mind  flashed  back  thirty-five  years  to  that 
early  morning  in  1857,  when  he  waited  at  the  door 
of  the  Phoenix  office  prepared  to  make  his  modest 
entry  into  the  world  of  fire  insurance.  It  was  a  long, 
long  road  he  had  traveled  since  then  —  from  humble 
bookkeeper  and  glorified  office  boy  to  the  head  of  one 
of  the  great  insurance  organizations  of  the  world. 
To  have  thought  that  he  would  continue  his  journey 
and  participate  in  the  centenary  celebration  of  the 
yEtna  twenty-seven  years  later,  with  himself  still 
active,  alert  and  aggressive  as  president,  would  have 
seemed  a  wild  hope. 

But  Mr.  Clark  was  never  a  dreamer;  his  specialty 
was  action.  He  lost  no  time  in  looking  backward, 
but  shouldered  his  new  responsibilities  and  resumed 
his  onward  march.  His  election  as  President  was 
followed  on  December  7,  1892,  by  the  promotion 
of  Captain  Andrew   C.    Bayne   from   the   position   of 

[128] 


PRESIDENT  CLARK'S  ADMINISTRATION 


Secretary  to  Vice-President  and  of  Assistant  Secretary 
Dudley  to  Secretary. 

There  now  appeared  a  new  figure  in  the  official 
ranks  of  the  ^tna  in  the  person  of  Egbert  O.  Weeks, 
who  was  elected  Assistant  Secretary.  He  was  an 
able  underwriter  of  long  training  and  wide  experience 
in  fire  insurance.  He  was  at  this  time  forty-five  years 
of  age.  When  only  twenty-one  he  began  his  career 
with  the  Wyoming  Insurance  Company  and  subse- 
quently acted  as  special  agent  and  adjuster  for  the 
companies.  When,  in  1883,  Secretary  Dudley,  who 
had  served  the  /Etna,  as  special  agent  in  Pennsylvania, 
was  transferred  to  the  New  York  field,  Mr.  Weeks 
succeeded  him.  Six  years  later  he  moved  to 
Philadelphia,  with  the  supervision  of  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  W^est  Virginia  and  Delaware,  where  he 
continued  until  his  election  as  Assistant  Secretary. 
His  further  progress  with  the  Company  was  rapid, 
for  in  1897  he  became  Vice-President  and  a  Director, 
doing  splendid  work  in  both  capacities  until  his  death 
in  1902. 

Mr.  Weeks  was  a  member  of  the  National  Board 
of  Fire  Underwriters  and  a  member  of  the  rate  com- 
mittee of  fifteen.  As  chairman  of  the  important 
sub-committee  on  large  cities  he  was  part  of  the 
movement  of  the  National  Board,  which,  shortly 
before  his  death,  put  that  portion  of  fire  insurance 
relating  to  large  cities  on  a  sounder  basis,  by  materially 
readjusting  the  premium  rates.  The  National  Board 
now  takes  no  action  whatever  on  rate-making,  but 
concentrates     on     fire-prevention     and     the     broader 

9  [129] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


questions  of  fire  insurance.  As  Vice-President  of  the 
yfetna,  Mr.  Weeks  had  for  his  special  field  the  Middle 
States  and  also  entire  supervision  and  control  of  the 
marine  department  of  the  Company. 

When  Captain  Bayne  died  in  October,  1893, 
there  was  another  move-up  in  the  ofiicial  personnel. 
Mr.  Dudley  succeeded  him  as  Vice-President,  leaving 
the  vacated  position  of  Secretary  to  fall  to  W.  H.  King, 
while  F.  W.  Jenness,  a  native  of  New  Hampshire, 
who  had  been  for  five  years  a  special  agent  in  New 
York,  was  made  the  second  assistant  secretary. 

The  affairs  of  the  Company  were  now  moving 
along  with  the  precision,  ease,  efficiency  and  smoothness 
of  a  perfectly  oiled  and  adjusted  piece  of  mechanism. 
While  the  business  was  growing  rapidly,  the  official 
staff  had  been  so  increased, its  worksowell  systematized, 
and  the  scope  of  the  different  departments  so  clearly 
demarked  from  each  other,  that  no  volume  of  work 
seemed  to  ruffle  the  routine  in  the  least.  From 
President  Clark  down  through  the  whole  list  of  officers, 
there  was  manifest  practical  ability  of  the  highest 
order,  underwriting  experience  gained  through  long 
hard  training  and  service,  and  a  loyalty  and  devotion 
to  the  old  iEtna  as  though  it  were  a  cause  or  a  crusade 
rather  than  a  mere  business  institution. 

No  further  changes  of  importance  occurred  in 
the  official  personnel  of  the  ^tna  until  1897.  On 
March  19th  of  this  year,  the  death  of  Vice-President 
Dudley  left  a  vacancy  which  was  filled  by  the  promotion 
of  Egbert  O.  Weeks,  then  Assistant  Secretary.  The 
resignation  of  Assistant  Secretary  Jenness   to   return 

[130] 


PRESIDENT  CLARK'S  ADMINISTRATION 


to  the  New  York  field  as  special  agent,  and  the  advance- 
ment of  Mr.  Weeks,  created  two  vacancies,  which  were 
filled  by  the  election  of  Henry  E.  Rees  and  Alexander 
C.  Adams  as  assistant  secretaries. 

Mr.  Rees  was  born  at  Macon,  Georgia,  on  April 
^95  1857,  and  when  twenty-four  years  of  age  entered 
the  fire  insurance  business  as  local  agent  in  his  native 
city.  Three  years  later  he  was  appointed  special 
agent  for  the  South  Eastern  Tariff  Association,  with 
headquarters  at  Atlanta.  In  the  following  year  he 
was  made  Southern  special  agent  of  the  North  British 
and  Mercantile  Insurance  Company,  of  which,  James 
F.  Dudley,  later  Vice-President  of  the  ^Etna,  was  then 
assistant  manager  for  the  United  States.  In  1889, 
a  year  after  Mr.  Dudley  was  elected  Assistant  Secretary 
of  the  ^tna,  Mr.  Rees  was  made  southern  special 
agent  for  the  Company,  and  so  continued  until  1897. 
He  was  then  called  to  the  home  ofiice  as  Assistant 
Secretary,  in  which  position  he  served  for  ten  years. 
On  May  6,  1907,  he  was  elected  Secretary,  and  five 
years  later  he  became  Vice-President  and  Director, 
in  which  positions  he  has  since  continued  to  serve. 
In  1 91 8  Mr.  Rees  was  elected  to  the  presidency  of  the 
Southeastern  Underwriters'  Association.  Of  his  thirty- 
eight  years  in  fire  insurance,  he  has  given  thirty  years 
of  continuous  service  to  the  i^tna  as  the  Company 
rounds  out  the  first  century  of  its  existence. 

Mr.  Adams,  who  becamie  Assistant  Secretary  at  the 
same  time  as  Mr.  Rees,  was  born  at  Barnstable, 
Massachusetts,  on  April  9,  1847.  After  a  country 
school  education  he  early  went  to  Boston   and  there 

[131I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


soon  found  his  real  vocation  in  fire  insurance.  When 
only  eighteen  he  entered  the  service  of  the  Howard 
Insurance  Company  of  Boston,  where  he  remained 
for  seven  years;  from  1872  to  '77  he  was  assistant 
secretary  of  the  Globe  of  Boston,  leaving  this  position 
to  become  New  England  field  representative  of  the 
Liverpool  and  London  and  Globe,  serving  in  that 
capacity  for  fourteen  years.  His  twenty-six  years  of 
such  experience  had  made  him  an  underwriter  of 
unusual  ability,  and  in  1891  he  joined  the  JEtna.  forces 
as  General  Agent  in  Boston.  After  serving  ten  years 
as  Assistant  Secretary  he  resigned  and  returned  to 
Boston,  to  there  take  charge  of  the  local  and  metro- 
politan departments  of  the  ^tna. 

So  smoothly  were  the  affairs  of  the  Company  running 
during  these  years,  so  natural  and  easy  its  expansion, 
that  there  is  little  of  detail  to  chronicle;  fires  that 
would  have  been  critical  events  in  its  early  history 
were  met  as  mere  matters  of  routine,  thanks  to  its 
splendid  financial  management  and  its  growing  reserves. 
When  the  announcement  of  war  with  Spain  thrilled 
the  nation  in  1898  and  the  call  was  made  for  volunteers, 
the  ^tna  faced  the  situation  with  the  same  patriotism 
and  prompt  action  as  distinguished  its  course  in  the 
Great  War,  two  decades  later.  In  April,  1898,  the 
Board  of  Directors  voted: 

That  all  persons  now  employed  at  the  home  or  branch  offices 
of  this  company  who  are  members  of  military  or  naval  organi- 
zations of  their  respective  states  or  the  United  States,  shall, 
in  the  event  of  entering  the  actual  service  of  the  United  States 
in  the  war  with  Spain,  have  their  salaries  continued  while  in  such 
service  during  the  time  of  their  present  enlistment.     They  shall 

[132] 


PRESIDENT  CLARK'S  ADMINISTRATION 


also,   after  honorable  discharge,  have   opportunity  to  return   to 
the  employ  of  this  company. 

Under  the  guiding  hand  of  President  Clark,  the 
Company  had  safely  passed  through  two  periods  of 
storm  and  stress  —  the  panic  year  of  1893  and  the 
Spanish  war.  The  cares  and  responsibilities  of  his 
position  were  now  beginning  to  tell  on  his  health,  and 
in  1900  he  was  urged  by  the  Directors  to  take  a  six 
months'  rest,  which  was  his  first  real  vacation  in  over 
forty  years.  During  this  year  the  ^tna  suffered  two 
large  fire  losses,  one  at  Jacksonville,  Florida,  to  the 
amount  of  $168,000,  and  the  other  at  Ottawa,  Canada, 
which  cost  the  Company  $198,000;  that  they  occasioned 
no  flurry  in  the  home  office  proved  the  soundness  of 
its  financial  condition. 

These  were  years  of  frequent  changes  and  additions 
in  the  ofiicial  personnel  due  to  increasing  volume  of 
business.  It  was  a  far  cry  from  the  early  days,  when, 
aside  from  the  President  and  Directors,  Secretary 
Perkins  was  the  whole  office  force,  keeping  the  books, 
attending  to  correspondence,  drumming  up  agents, 
traveling  around  adjusting  losses  and  doing  a  host  of 
other  things,  to  the  year  1902,  when,  in  addition  to 
its  Secretary,  the  Company  found  it  necessary  to 
increase  its  number  of  assistant  secretaries  from  two 
to  four.  The  two  new  incumbents  were  Almeron 
N.  Williams  and  Dr.  C.  J.  Irvin,  of  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Williams  is  a  native  of  Connecticut,  hav- 
ing been  born  at  Hartford  on  January  19,  1862. 
When  but  a  young  man  he  made  his  advent  into 
the    insurance    world,    like    President    Clark,    in    the 

[^33] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


office  of  the  Phoenix  of  Hartford.  He  left  the  home 
office  of  the  Phoenix  to  represent  the  Company  in 
western  New  York,  with  headquarters  at  Rochester, 
and  his  success  there  justified  his  being  later  given 
charge  of  the  western  New  England  field.  It  was  from 
this  position  that  he  came  with  the  ^tna  and  was 
appointed  special  agent  for  the  same  territory.  His 
field  work  proved  a  stepping  stone  to  the  higher 
position  of  Assistant  Secretary,  to  which  he  was  soon 
called.  After  ten  years  of  varied  and  valuable 
executive  experience  in  this  position,  he  was  in  191 2 
elected  Vice-President  of  the  Company  and  later  was 
made  a  Director.  Here  again  we  may  find  a  parallel 
in  the  careers  of  President  Clark  and  Vice-President 
Williams.  Both  began  in  the  same  office  in  clerical 
capacities,  and  each  was  promoted  from  Assistant 
Secretary  to  Vice-President  of  the  JEtna  without 
serving  in  the  intermediate  position  of  Secretary. 

Dr.  C.  J.  Irvin,  who  was  elected  Assistant  Secretary 
on  the  same  day  as  Mr.  Williams,  is  a  son  of  President 
E.  C.  Irvin  of  the  Fire  Association  of  Philadelphia. 
He  was  born  in  Perry  County,  Pennsylvania,  on  Novem- 
ber 30,  1863,  and  when  twenty-one,  graduated  from  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  appointed  special 
agent  of  the  Fire  Association  of  Philadelphia  in  1888, 
and  from  1891  to  '93  was  special  agent  of  the  Conti- 
nental Insurance  Company  for  the  middle  department, 
which  position  he  resigned  to  become  special  agent  for 
the  iEtna.  In  1899  he  was  elected  vice-president 
of  the  Underwriters'  Association  of  the  Middle  Depart- 
ment and  in  the  succeeding  year  was  made  president. 

[134I 


PRESIDENT  CLARK'S  ADMINISTRATION 

It  was  in  1905,  after  three  years  of  service  as  Assistant 
Secretary  of  the  ^tna,  that  Dr.  Irvin,  to  the  regret 
of  the  Company,  resigned  and  requested  to  be  trans- 
ferred to  his  old  field  and  old  associates  in  Philadelphia, 
where  he  again  took  up  his  work  as  special  agent;  a 
position  in  which  he  has  since  continued  to  serve. 

The  rapid  development  of  the  business  of  the 
Company  now  began  to  crowd  departments  beyond  the 
point  of  comfort.  The  Directors  realized  that  the 
home  office  building  which  they  had  occupied  since 
1867,  the  very  year  in  which  President  Clark  entered 
the  service  of  the  JEtna,  was  outgrown.  It  was  not  of 
fire-proof  construction,  nor  was  it  adapted  to  modern 
methods  of  doing  business.  What  the  Company  needed 
was  a  new  fire-resistive,  up-to-date  building,  planned 
on  lines  of  adequate  provision  for  natural  expansion 
of  business  for  years  to  come. 

In  April,  1902,  President  Clark  appointed  a  com- 
mittee composed  of  Directors  James  H.  Knight, 
Francis  Goodwin  and  Charles  E.  Gross,  to  consult 
with  the  executive  officers  concerning  the  need  of  a 
new  building.  The  report  of  the  Directors,  which  was 
made  in  the  following  June,  stated: 

We  have  made  a  careful  examination  of  the  present  quarters 
and  find  them  already  full  and  in  fact  crowded.  The  growing 
business  of  the  Company  calls  for  additional  room  as  soon  as  it 
can  be  furnished,  and  it  is  the  recommendation  of  your  committee 
that  a  new  thoroughly  fire-proof  building  be  erected,  covering 
the  ground  now  occupied  and  the  so-called  Conklin  property  on 
the  north.  This  will  give  the  Company  commodious  quarters 
for  half  a  century  to  come. 

Prophecy  is  a  rather  risky  business;   but  of  course, 

the    Directors    could    not    anticipate    the    remarkable 

1 135] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

Strides  the  Company  was  to  take,  which  rendered 
quarters  "adequate  for  half  a  century,"  inadequate 
and  over-crowded  in  191 9,  after  only  fourteen  years 
of  occupancy.  In  December,  the  Board  approved  the 
plans  made  by  a  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose 
and  appropriated  $425,000  for  the  new  building  and 
in  the  year  following  added  $50,000  to  this  amount. 
Under  the  direction  of  a  building  committee  consisting 
of  President  Clark,  Directors  Goodwin,  Gross  and 
Knight  and  Secretary  King,  the  work  was  begun. 
The  architect  selected  was  Benjamin  Wister  Morris 
of  New  York  City. 

Temporary  quarters  had  to  be  found  to  house  the 
Company  during  the  period  of  the  demolition  of  the 
old  building  and  the  erection  of  the  new.  This  problem 
was  solved  by  a  two  years'  lease  of  space  in  the  Con- 
necticut Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company's  building 
in  May,  1903,  when  the  razing  of  the  old  building  was 
begun.  When  the  concrete  foundation  for  the  cellar 
walls  of  the  new  structure  was  completed,  the  first  two 
bricks  were  laid  by  President  Clark  in  the  presence  of 
the  full  official  force  of  the  JEtna.  When  the  work 
was  completed  in  May,  1905,  the  Company  moved  into 
its  new  quarters.  The  report  of  the  building  com- 
mittee, made  shortly  afterward,  reported  the  cost  of 
the  completed  structure  as  a  httle  over  $479,000.  The 
building  is  five  stories  in  height,  with  a  frontage  of 
94K  feet,  and  a  depth  of  165  feet.  Its  construction  of 
granite,  limestone,  brick  and  iron,  and  tile  roof,  makes 
it  as  nearly  fire-proof  as  human  ingenuity  could  devise. 

While  the  new  building  was  in  process  of  erection, 

[136] 


HOME  OF-FICE  OF  THE  MTNA  INSURANCE  COMI'ANY 
SINCE  1905 


PRESIDENT  CLARK'S  ADMINISTRATION 


and  everything  seemed  moving  along  serenely,  the 
Company  in  1904  struck  a  bad  fire  year.  There  were 
three  real  conflagrations  —  at  Baltimore,  Toronto  and 
Rochester  —  with  combined  losses  to  the  Company 
of  ^966,000.  There  was  a  shock  through  the  country, 
when  in  February  7,  1904,  the  telegraph  instruments 
clicked  out  the  news  that  the  business  centre  of  Balti- 
more was  on  fire.  Fanned  by  high  winds,  the  flames 
swept  Hke  a  pestilence  over  150  acres  and  left  few 
buildings  in  their  path  undestroyed.  It  was  not  a 
town  of  wooden  buildings,  as  was  largely  the  case 
at  Chicago  in  the  conflagration  there  thirty-three 
years  before.  This  section  of  Baltimore  was  substan- 
tially built  of  stone  and  brick,  with  many  buildings 
of  what  was  called,  and  believed  to  be,  fire-proof 
construction,  yet  even  they  could  not  withstand  the 
furnace  heat  of  this  thirty  hours'  siege  of  fire.  The 
total  loss  was  ^50,000,000,  of  which  amount  $727,000 
fell  to  the  lot  of  the  ^Etna. 

While  the  embers  were  still  glowing  red  in  the 
streets  of  the  devastated  city.  President  Clark,  with 
characteristic  energy,  and  in  the  spirit  with  which  the 
yEtna  had  borne  all  its  crises,  wrote  these  words, 
addressed  to  the  Company's  agents: 

We  know  you  are  all  interested  in  the  effect  the  Baltimore 
fire  will  have  upon  this  Company.  Wq  have  lived  through  many 
conflagrations,  notably  New  York,  1845;  St.  Louis,  1849;  Chilli- 
cothe,  Ohio,  1852;  Montreal,  1852;  Portland,  1866;  Vicksburg, 
1867;  Chicago,  1871;  Boston,  1872;  O.icago  (No.  2),  1874; 
Oshkosh,  1875;  Virginia  City,  1875;  Haverhill,  1882;  Boston 
(No.  2),  1889;  Ottawa  and  Hull,  1900;  Jacksonville,  1901; 
Paterson  and  Waterbury,  in  1902,  with  numerous  others  of  smaller 
amounts,  always  paying  one  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar,  which 

[137I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


we  think  clearly  demonstrates  our  ability  and  willingness  to 
continue  in  the  good  work  of  furnishing  absolute  indemnity 
to  the  insuring  public. 

Our  Baltimore  losses  will  somewhat  exceed  a  half  million 
dollars,  but  we  have  the  cash  in  bank  to  meet  all  drafts  as  the 
losses  are  adjusted,  and  also  to  meet  payments  on  our  new  fire- 
proof office  tuilding  now  in  process  of  erection.  A  glance  at  our 
last  Annual  Statement,  showing  over  $15,000,000  of  Assets 
invested  in  the  choicest  of  securities,  with  a  Surplus  of  over 
$6,000,000,  and  a  Surplus  of  over  $10,000,000  to  the  policy  holders, 
is  all  the  evidence  needed  to  demonstrate  the  solidity  of  the 
iEtna  and  its  ability  to  meet  all  its  liabilities. 

But  the  fire  at  Baltimore  was  after  all  but  a  trifle 
compared  with  the  tragedy  that  occurred  two  years 
later,  on  April  18,  1906  —  the  greatest  disaster  of 
modern  times  —  the  earthquake  and  the  conflagration 
at  San  Francisco.  The  first  "shock"  came  in  the 
early  morning  a  little  after  five  o'clock.  Instantly 
all  was  confusion,  consternation  and  terror  caused 
by  the  jar  of  the  violent  concussion,  the  swaying 
of  lofty  buildings,  the  crashing  fall  of  brick  walls,  the 
avalanche  of  chimneys  and  plaster.  The  people 
hurriedly  half-dressed,  rushed  through  the  streets, 
dazed,  frantic  or  paralyzed  with  fear. 

Before  six  o'clock  the  first  ominous  puff"  of  smoke 
was  seen  in  the  lower  section  of  the  city  and  the  terrify- 
ing cry  of  "Fire"  came  from  the  lips  of  thousands. 
In  a  brief  half-hour,  wherever  the  eyes  turned,  could 
could  be  seen  distinct  and  isolated  columns  of  smoke 
and  angry,  leaping  tongues  of  flame.  For  three  days 
and  three  nights  the  fire  raged  and  exacted  an  appalling 
toll  from  the  stricken  city.  Some  2,000  acres,  or  514 
blocks,  equivalent  to  one-sixth  of  the  city  plan,  were 
reduced  to  ruins.     Of  the  28,000  buildings  destroyed 

[138] 


PRESIDENT  CLAK  K  S  ADMINISTRATION  ^''^'-^1 

only  5,000  were  such  as  involved  steel,  stone  or  brick 
in  theirconstruction;  the  others  were  of  redwood, deemed 
comparatively  unburnablc.  These  houses  stood  the 
earthquake  shock  fairly  well  but  fell  before  the  flames. 
As  in  Baltimore,  the  "fire-proof"  buildings  suffered 
severely,  and  though  some  remained  standing  they 
were  "gutted"  and  their  contents  consumeti.  The 
loss  to  life  was  about  500,  which  was  much  less  than 
might  have  been  expected,  while  the  property  loss 
reached  the  colossal  figure  of  $350,000,000. 

The  people  were  homeless,  destitute  in  every  sense 
of  the  word,  and  their  lot  would  have  been  hopeless 
were  it  not  for  the  relief  sent  from  every  part  of  the 
country.  Over  nine  million  dollars  in  money  was 
contributed,  beside  food,  clothing  and  other  neces- 
sities gladly  furnished  by  the  hand  of  humanity. 
But  after  all,  as  at  the  fire  in  Chicago,  it  was  to 
the  insurance  companies  that  the  thoughts  of  the 
people  turned  as  their  one  hope  as  they  faced  their 
future. 

What  this  fire  cost  the  insurance  companies  may  be 
seen,  to  a  degree,  in  the  statement  made  by  President 
Burchell,  of  the  National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters, 
in  the  year  following.  He  said  that  this  single 
conflagration  had  cost  the  fire  insurance  companies 
of  America  every  dollar  of  profit  made  out  of  under- 
writing in  47  years  —  that  is,  back  to  i860  —  and 
in  addition  to  this,  nearly  $80,000,000  more.  Never 
was  there  such  a  proof  of  what  fire  insurance  means 
to  America,  as  a  protection,  a  safeguard  and  a  source 
of  new  strength  and  courage  in  a  crisis  to  the  individual 

[139I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

or  the  community  that  sees  its  cherished  possessions 
reduced  to  ashes  in  a  few  brief  hours. 

Three  thousand  miles  away  —  at  Hartford,  in 
the  office  of  the  /Etna  —  these  were  serious  days. 
As  in  the  previous  critical  times  in  the  history  of  the 
Company,  when  suddenly  called  upon  to  face  a  great 
loss,  there  was  no  hesitancy  as  to  what  it  would  do, 
but  merely  how  much  would  it  be  required  to  pay, 
and  how  could  the  funds  best  be  provided.  A  single 
sentence  in  the  minutes  of  the  Directors'  meeting  of 
May  1st  tells  the  story:  "Officers  are  authorized 
to  borrow  $2,000,000  to  settle  claims  and  to  sell  such 
securities  as  may  be  necessary."  This  action,  v/ith 
money  taken  from  the  reserve  created  for  just  such  a 
need,  was  the  way  out.  But  it  was  hard  to  see  the 
underwriting  profits  of  more  than  half  a  lifetime  of 
the  company  wiped  out  in  a  few  days. 

What  the  losses  would  be  was  for  a  time  a  matter 
of  estimate  and  guessing;  but  they  were  certain 
to  be  disastrously  large,  for  the  Pacific  Branch  had 
been  prospering  and  had  written  a  great  amount 
of  local  business.  President  Clark,  who  for  nearly 
forty  years  had  exercised  personal  supervision  at  the 
home  office  over  Pacific  Branch  affairs,  knew  the  city 
of  San  Francisco,  from  an  underwriter's  point  of 
view,  better  even  than  he  knew  Hartford.  When 
he  received  the  reports  showing  the  territory  affected, 
he  was  able  to  estimate  within  a  few  thousands  the 
total  losses  of  the  Company. 

The  gross  loss  was  $3,383,019.47,  but  as  the  ^tna 
had   re-insured   part   of  its   risk   in   other   companies, 

[140] 


PRESIDENT  CLARK'S  ADMINISTRATION 

the  net  amount  actually  paid  to  meet  claims  was 
^2,891,287.77.  In  September  the  Directors  passed 
a  special  vote  of  appreciation  of  the  prudence  and 
successful  service  of  President  Clark  in  the  matter 
of  the  San  Francisco  fire  and  his  wise  handling  of  the 
Company's  affairs. 

In  its  settlement  of  losses,  great  as  they  were,  the 
JEtna  made  a  splendid  showing.  There  were  many 
technical  points  that  might  have  been  invoked  to 
lessen  the  amount  of  its  payments,  but  these  were 
brushed  aside  without  question  or  cavil;  every  loss 
was  paid  in  full  —  one  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar, 
without  discount. 

What  San  Francisco  thought  of  the  /Etna  is  shown 
in  the  report  of  Professor  A.  W.  Whitney,  appointed 
by  a  Committee  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
San  Francisco,  to  investigate  the  fire  insurance  side 
of  the  great  conflagration.  His  report,  which  contained 
a  list  of  the  companies  involved,  and  a  complete 
statement  of  their  record  in  the  adjustment  ot  losses 
and  payment  of  claims,  gave  the  /Etna.  Insurance 
Company  a  marking  of  one  hundred  per  cent. 

In  the  year  following  the  fire — 1907  —  there 
was  new  blood  brought  into  the  Company  by  the 
election  of  three  assistant  secretaries:  Edgar  J.  Sloan, 
Edwin  S.  Allen,  and  Guy  E.  Beardsley.  They  were 
all  trained  underwriters  who  had  proved  themselves 
in  field  work  in  the  service  of  the  Company. 

Edgar  J.  Sloan  was  born  in  Hartford  on  November 
4,  1870,  and  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  ot  his 
native    city.      When    he   was    eighteen    years   ot    age, 

[141] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


he  entered  the  local  agency  of  the  Phoenix  at  Hartford, 
and  four  years  later  became  examiner  for  the  Company. 
In  1897  he  went  with  the  Home  Insurance  Company 
of  New  York,  serving  first  as  special  agent,  and  later 
as  state  agent  for  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island. 
In  1903  he  joined  the  ^Etna  forces  as  special  agent 
for  Connecticut,  Western  Massachusetts  and  Vermont. 
Two  years  later  he  was  made  General  Agent,  then 
Assistant  Secretary,  and  in  191 2  he  was  elected  to  his 
present  position  of  Secretary  of  the  Company. 

Edwin  S.  Allen,  the  second  of  the  new  assistant 
secretaries,  the  son  of  Francis  B.  Allen,  well  known 
in  insurance  circles  as  Vice-President  of  the  Hartford 
Steam  Boiler  Inspection  and  Insurance  Company, 
was  born  in  New  York  City  on  July  12,  1871.  His 
early  education  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
city  preceded  a  course  at  Trinity  College,  Hartford, 
from  which  he  graduated  in  1894.  It  was  in  this  year 
that  he  joined  the  ranks  of  the  Mtna.  By  successive 
advances  from  clerk  to  examiner,  special  agent  and 
general  agent,  he  reached  his  present  position  of 
Assistant  Secretary.  In  the  same  year  that  the  ^Etna 
rounded  out  its  first  hundred  years,  Mr.  Allen  completed 
a  quarter  century  in  the  service  of  the  Company. 

The  third  of  the  new  assistant  secretaries,  Guy 
E.  Beardsley,  was  born  on  December  14,  1874,  at 
Coventry,  New  York,  and  received  his  early  education 
in  the  public  and  high  schools  of  Hartford.  Then  he 
went  to  Yale  and  in  1896  graduated  from  the  Sheffield 
Scientific  School.  After  a  few  months  at  banking, 
he  entered  the  service  of  the  ^tna  as  an  examiner. 

[142] 


PRESIDENT  CLARK'S  ADMINISTRATION 


Here  he  remained  for  several  years  and  then  went 
to  the  National  Union  Fire  Insurance  Company 
of  Pittsburgh,  as  special  agent  in  Western  Pennsylvania 
for  a  year,  later  serving  the  Home  Insurance  Company 
of  New  York  for  three  years  as  special  agent  in 
Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  and  in  1905  returning 
to  the  JEtna.  as  special  agent  in  Connecticut,  Western 
Massachusetts  and  Vermont.  With  the  exception  of 
the  four  years  spent  in  the  field  for  the  National 
Union  and  the  Home,  Mr.  Beardsley's  business  career 
has  been  spent  with  the  ^^tna. 

In  1907,  the  year  that  brought  in  the  three  assistant 
secretaries,  the  Company  took  a  new,  long  stride 
forward  when  it  secured  a  charter  amendment  permit- 
ting it  to  engage  in  ocean  marine  insurance.  Since 
1843  the  v^tna  had  been  doing  an  inland  marine 
business,  but  which  had  never  assumed  large 
proportions.  How  this  branch  has  developed  during 
the  last  several  years  into  a  vital  and  successful 
part  of  the  ^tna  is  related  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

The  Directors,  in  1909,  in  a  spirit  of  further 
expansion,  secured  a  charter  amendment  enabling 
the  Company  to  write  various  phases  of  automobile 
insurance,  which,  during  the  preceding  three  years, 
the  Company  had  been  writing  in  a  limited  way. 
In  the  same  year  the  capital  stock  was  increased, 
from  four  to  five  million  dollars,  and  two  years  later, 
by  the  thirteenth  and  last  amendment  to  the  charter 
to  date,  authority  was  granted  to  increase  the  capital 
from  five  to  ten  million  dollars.  Under  this  amendment 
no  action  has  yet  been  taken. 

[  143  ] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


It  was  in  191 2  that  the  promotion  of  Edgar  J. 
Sloan  to  his  present  position  as  Secretary  of  the  Com- 
pany left  a  vacancy  that  was  filled  by  the  election  of 
Ralph  B.  Ives,  who  had  already  served  eight  years 
with  the  i^tna.  He  entered  the  employment  of  the 
Company  in  1904  as  clerk  in  the  home  office,  in  which 
place  he  remained  until  1907,  when  he  was  appointed 
special  agent  and  adjuster  for  Connecticut,  Vermont 
and  Western  Massachusetts,  with  headquarters  in 
Hartford.  In  1910  he  was  elected  chairman  of  the 
executive  committee  of  the  New  England  Insurance 
Exchange,  serving  with  marked  ability  for  two  years, 
when  he  was  relieved  from  field  duties  by  President 
Clark  and  elected  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  iEtna, 
which  office  he  still  holds.  In  191 5  he  was  assigned  to 
service  at  Chicago  in  the  Western  Branch  of  the 
Company,  with  headquarters  at  Chicago,  in  the 
management  of  which  he  has  since  been  associated 
with  General  Agent  Thomas  E.  Gallagher  and 
Assistant  General  Agent  Louis  O.  Kohtz. 

While  the  Company  was  enjoying  the  sunshine 
of  prosperity  about  this  time  it  met  with  a  serious 
loss  that  could  not  be  measured  by  a  row  of  figures 
and  a  dollar  sign.  It  was  the  loss  of  a  man,  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Directors  —  J.  Pierpont  Morgan, 
the  great  American  financier  —  who  died  in  Rome 
on  March  31,  1913. 

What  Mr.  Morgan  meant  to  the  JEtna.  cannot 
better  be  told  than  by  quoting  the  resolution  adopted 
by  his  associates  on  the  Board  of  Directors: 

Being  a  resident  of  New  York  City,  he  attended  only  a  few 
meetings  of  the  Board  (elected  Director  June,  1883),  but  he  was 

[144] 


PRESIDENT  CLARK'S  ADMINISTRATION 


always  a  ready  and  willing  advisor  in  the  Company's  financial 
matters,  which  has  repeatedly  resulted    to  its  great  advantage. 

The  reputation  of  a  Corporation  is  the  reputation  of  its 
Directors  and  Officers,  and  no  one  recognized  this  more  nor 
sustained  it  better  than  Mr.  Morgan.  His  integrity  was  so  well 
known  that  his  name  in  the  Directorate  of  any  company  was  a 
veritable  tower  of  strength. 

The  ^tna  Insurance  Company  has  been  greatly  indebted  for 
careful  and  successful  direction  to  three  generations  in  the  Morgan 
family  —  to  Joseph  Morgan,  his  grandfather—  to  Junius  Spencer 
Morgan,  his  father — both  of  whom  were  for  a  time  successively 
Directors  in  this  Company,  and  especially  to  our  late  associate 
himself. 

Mr.  Morgan  was  a  mighty  man,  knowing  only  good  deeds, 
so  that  he  established  himself  thereby  in  the  confidence,  in  the 
respect  and  in  the  love  of  his  fellow  men.  As  associates  with 
him,  we  have  learned  his  standards,  and  as  his  successors  we  must 
sustain  them. 

Upon  his  son,  J.  P.  Morgan,  Jr.,  fell  the  respon- 
sibility and  honor  of  carrying  on  the  Morgan  tradition 
of  service  and  loyalty  to  the  ^Etna  when  he  was  elected 
in  January,  1914,  to  succeed  his  father  as  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Directors. 

When  in  August  of  this  year,  the  rumblings  of 
possible  war  in  Europe  became  the  actual  conflict 
itself,  ushering  in  a  world  war  of  unbelievable  awfulness, 
involving  twenty-seven  nations,  every  form  of  insur- 
ance felt  the  shock  as  sensitively  as  a  seismograph 
registers  an  earthquake.  Ocean  marine  insurance 
was  naturally  first  affected,  though  quickly  followed 
by  the  menace  of  incendiarism  in  munition  factories 
and  shipyards,  which  brought  new  problems  to  fire 
insurance  companies.  How  the  /Etna  carried  itself 
in  those  four  terrible  years,  making  a  new  chapter 
in  the  administration  of  President  Clark,  is  given  in 
later  pages  of  this  chronicle. 

10  [145] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


What  the  service  of  Mr.  Clark  really  meant  to 
the  /Etna,  was  expressed  most  delightfully  and  con- 
vincingly at  an  informal  dinner  given  in  his  honor 
by  the  Directors  and  Officers  on  December  i,  1917, 
the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  joining  the  Company. 
The  spirit  of  the  meeting  was  voiced  in  a  resolution 
proposed  by  Director  Francis  Goodwin,  grandson  of 
Joseph  Morgan,  in  whose  coffee  house  the  ^Etna  was 
born.  This  resolution  is  worthy  of  being  quoted  in 
full,  as  recording  the  spirit  of  a  most  important  occa- 
sion not  only  in  the  life  of  President  Clark,  but  in 
the  life  of  the  ^Etna: 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  Directors  and  Officers  of  the  ^tna 
Insurance  Company,  assembled  today  to  celebrate  the  completion 
of  fifty  years  of  service  which  Mr.  William  B.  Clark  has  rendered 
as  an  Officer  of  this  Company,  of  which  for  twenty-five  years  he 
has  been  President,  desire  to  place  on  record, 

First:  Our  congratulations  on  the  uniform  and  remarkable 
success  which  has  distinguished  his  administration  as  shown  in 
the  results  which  have  been  achieved. 

Second:  Our  appreciation  of  the  ability,  fidelity,  and  stead- 
fast courage  which,  during  the  days  of  adversity  as  well  as  in  times 
of  prosperity,  have,  through  all  vicissitudes  of  half  a  century, 
preserved  the  high  and  honorable  reputation  of  the  Company  and 
maintained  its  position  among  the  greatest  insurance  corporations 
of  the  world. 

Third:  Our  felicitations  that  in  all  of  the  personal  relations 
which  have  existed  between  him  and  the  Officers  and  Directors 
of  the  Company  he  has,  by  his  unfailing  courtesy  and  considera- 
tion, won  not  only  in  the  highest  degree,  the  respect  and  confidence 
of  his  associates,  but  their  sincere  and  lasting  aflfection. 

It  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  an  individual  to  celebrate 
more  than  one  fiftieth  anniversary  in  his  business  career, 
but  President  Clark  may  lay  claim  to  two.  In  1907, 
ten  years  before  the  event  just  related,  the  leading 
fire    insurance    men    of    New    York    City    joined    in 

[146] 


'^mt^mtm  ii* 


'<0 


-"^m^'^ 


lor         or  NiawTtonk  City       „__ 


PRESENTED  AT   PRESIDENT  CLARK'S  FIFTIETH   BUSINESS  ANNIVERSARY 
Presentation  Address  was  made  by  J.  Momcomkky  Hare 


PRESIDENT  CLARK'S  ADMINISTRATION  '  ',  ",' 

presenting  to  him  a  beautifully  engraved  loving-cup 
in  token  of  their  personal  affection  and  high  esteem, 
and  in  recognition  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his 
entry  into  the  business  of  fire  insurance.  In  point  of 
continuous  service  President  Clark  may  justly  be 
regarded  as  the  dean  of  insurance  executives.  In 
June,  1919,  the  same  month  that  the  ^tna  observed 
its  one  hundredth  anniversary,  its  veteran  and  still 
active  President  reached  the  ripe  age  of  seventy-eight 
years,  fifty-two  of  which  had  been  devoted  to  the 
service  of  the  Company  and  sixty-two  in  the  business. 

Since  his  election  as  President  of  the  A\ix\-x 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  Mr.  Clark 
has  contributed  largely  not  only  to  the  growth  and 
expansion  of  the  Company  itself,  but  to  the  cause  of 
underwriting  in  general.  He  has  always  taken  a 
deep  interest  in  the  work  of  the  National  Board  of 
Fire  Underwriters,  serving  two  years  as  Vice-President 
and  one  year  as  President  of  that  organization,  from 
1894  to  1896,  inclusive. 

In  the  twenty-seven  years  of  President  Clark's 
administration  of  y^tna  affairs,  there  has  been  much 
that  was  vital  which  cannot  be  expressed  in  a  phrase. 
It  has  been  possible  to  mention  only  a  few  of  the 
outstanding  events.  No  individual,  and  President 
Clark  least  of  all,  would  claim  personal  credit  for  the 
tremendous  growth  which  the  Company  has  enjoyed 
in  these  years.  From  the  humblest  agent  in  the  field, 
up  through  all  the  grades  to  the  highest  official,  each 
has  contributed  his  share.  Throughout  the  entire 
organization    there   has   been    a   fine   spirit   of  mutual 

[147I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


loyalty  and  devotion.  Immediately  associated  with 
President  Clark,  and  co-operating  with  him  in  every 
phase  of  the  work,  are  the  executive  officials  of  whom 
brief  mention  has  been  made.  While  each  of  these 
is  charged  with  the  supervision  of  some  particular 
division  of  the  business,  the  duties  of  all  are  so  inter- 
woven and  so  nicely  adjusted,  that  perfect  team-work 
is  the  result.  Nor  is  this  spirit  of  co-operation  limited 
to  the  official  force:  it  is  in  evidence  among  the  agents 
in  the  field,  in  the  branch  offices  and  in  all  of  the 
relations  between  the  Company  and  its  agents. 

Too  much  emphasis  cannot  be  given  to  the  part 
which  the  local  agent  has  played  in  the  development 
of  the  /Etns.  during  the  last  hundred  years.  No  history 
of  the  Company  would  be  complete  which  did  not 
tell  the  stories  of  how  its  great  agency  system  was 
built  up,  the  organization  of  its  Western  and  Pacific 
Branches,  the  development  of  its  marine  business,  which 
now  reaches  into  every  part  of  the  world,  the  effects 
of  legislation,  and  of  the  Company's  progress  during 
the  Great  War.  So  vital  and  important  are  these 
in  the  whole  story  of  the  Company  and  in  the  history 
of  American  fire  insurance  in  general,  they  have  been 
reserved  for  later  and  separate  chapters. 


[148] 


Chapter  XI 

THE  .ETNA  AND   ITS  AGENTS 

IN  the  history  of  any  institution  we  shall  always 
discover  that  many  separate  factors  and  influences 
have  contributed  to  its  growth  and  greatness. 
So  it  is  in  the  story  of  "Old  ^tna."  No  single  factor 
has  exerted  a  greater  influence  in  the  building  of  this 
great  insurance  organization  than  has  the  agent.  It 
is  true,  of  course,  that  other  elements  have  been  vitally 
important  —  the  firm  foundation  laid  by  President 
Brace  and  the  early  Directors,  the  formulation  of 
fundamental  principles  for  their  guidance  and  for 
the  direction  of  agents,  courage  and  fortitude  in 
facing  disaster,  prompt  payment  of  losses,  fair  dealing, 
and  sound  and  conservative  business  management. 
Lacking  any  of  these  the  iEtna  probably  would  be  only 
a  memory,  like  hundreds  of  others  strewn  along  the 
path  of  American  fire  insurance. 

Without  the  agent,  however,  no  growth  would 
have  been  possible,  and  the  Company  to-day,  if  it 
had  survived  at  all,  would  be  but  a  small  local  organiza- 
tion unknown  beyond  the  borders  of  its  home  State. 
In  a  letter  written  only  a  few  weeks  before  the  .Etna 

[149] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


celebrated   its  One  Hundredth   Anniversary    in    June 
1919,  its  veteran  President,  William  B.  Clark,  said: 

The  success  of  the  ^^tna  is  largely  owing  to  the  faithful  and 
continuous  service  of  a  large  corps  of  most  satisfactory  local 
agents  throughout  this  country  and  Canada.  We  feel  deeply 
indebted  to  them  for  the  services  which  they  have  rendered. 

When  the  ^tna  made  its  modest  beginning  in 
Joseph  Morgan's  Coffee  House  at  Hartford  one  hundred 
years  ago,  there  were  fewer  than  a  hundred  insurance 
agents  in  the  whole  country,  and  even  these  were  not 
agents  as  we  understand  the  term  to-day.  They 
were  merely  solicitors  for  applications;  in  most  cases 
they  were  not  even  that  —  they  were  simply  receivers 
of  applications;  they  had  no  authority  to  write  an 
insurance  policy.  Every  application  had  to  be 
forwarded  to  the  home  office  to  be  considered 
cautiously  by  the  Officers  and  Directors;  each  one  had 
to  be  accompanied  by  a  drawing  or  survey  showing 
the  location  of  the  building  on  which  insurance  was 
sought,  and  all  surrounding  buildings.  The  old  files 
of  the  iEtna  are  filled  with  these  crude  drawings. 
They  disclose  the  fact  that  some  of  the  early  agents, 
while  good  solicitors,  were  not  finished  artists.  Judging 
from  these  sketches,  there  must  have  been  some 
curious  buildings  in  those  days.  However,  they 
served  their  purpose,  enabling  the  Directors  to  pass 
more  or  less  intelligently  on  the  proposed  risk. 

In  the  evolution  of  the  insurance  agent  we  may 
read  much  of  the  story  of  insurance,  from  its  crude 
and  simple  beginnings  centuries  ago  to  its  highly 
organized  state  of  the  present  day.    Every  new  business, 

[150] 


THE  ^TNA  AND  ITS  AGENTS 


profession  or  occupation  is  simply  the  outgrowth 
of  some  new  need.  When  savagery  gave  way  to 
civilization,  laws  were  found  to  be  necessary  for  the 
regulation  and  protection  of  society;  as  laws  multi- 
plied, there  arose  the  need  for  interpreting  them; 
and  in  response  to  this  need  the  lawyer  was  evolved. 

The  seeds  of  the  future  business  of  insurance  were 
planted  in  the  need  of  some  merchant  for  others  to 
share  with  him  the  risk  of  shipping  his  goods  to  a 
foreign  port.  He  sought  those  with  money  who  were 
willing  to  share  his  possible  losses  in  return  for  a 
share  in  his  expected  profits.  As  trading  increased 
and  this  new  field  for  speculation  or  investment  grew 
larger,  those  having  money  began  to  seek  the  oppor- 
tunities for  sharing  such  risks;  they  no  longer  waited 
to  be  sought.  And  here  we  find  the  germ  of  the  great 
insurance  organizations  of  the  Twentieth  Century. 
As  these  early  underwriters  grew  more  numerous, 
they  gradually  divided  and  formed  themselves  into 
groups,  and  these  groups,  in  turn,  became  companies. 

Cause  and  effect  are  sometimes  so  closely  related 
that  it  is  impossible  to  distinguish  between  them. 
Whether  the  first  insurance  agent  grew  out  of  the 
need  of  the  merchant  for  assistance  in  finding  others 
to  share  his  risks,  or  whether  groups  of  individual 
underwriters  selected  some  one  to  represent  them,  we 
are  unable  to  judge.  It  is  probable  that  the  agent 
evolved  out  of  the  needs  of  both,  and,  paradoxical 
as  it  may  appear,  it  is  not  improbable  that  out  of  his 
need  was  evolved  the  insurance  corporation,  for  which 
he  now  is  the  agent.    It  may  well  be,  if  the  first  agent 

[151I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


represented  the  insured,  that  his  unpleasant  duty  of 

caUing  upon  the  numerous  individual  underwriters  to 

collect  from  them  their  share  of  losses,  prompted  the 

idea  that  it  would  be  much  easier  and  less  embarrassing 

for  him   if  all   the  underwriters  would  deposit   their 

funds  in  a  common  pool. 

While  the  exact  origin  of  the  insurance  agent  is 

therefore   a  subject   for   interesting  speculation,   it   is 

worthy  of  note  that  with   the   advent  of  the  /Etna. 

Insurance    Company,    his    occupation    for     the    first 

time   attained   to  the  dignity  of  a  profession.     That 

the  i^tna   had    a    definitely    new    conception    of   the 

functions    of   an    agent    is    shown    in     the     following 

extract  from  a  letter  written  in  July,   1820,  to  Stephen 

Tillinghast,  the  Company's  first  agent  in  Providence, 

Rhode  Island: 

Agents  of  insurance  companies  have  generally  no  other  power 
and  discretion  than  simply  to  deliver  instruments  as  drawn  by 
the  officers  of  the  company.  The  y?itna  agents  are  quite  differently 
intrusted  and  empowered,  and  the  highest  confidence  is  reposed 
in  their  integrity  and  intelligence.  In  most  cases  they  determine 
the  rate  of  premiums  and  fill  up  and  countersign  blank  policies 
with  which  they  are  previously  furnished,  without  reference  to 
the  office. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  there 

were  few  fire  insurance  companies  and  only  a  small 

scattering    of   agents.      The    operating    field    of   each 

company  was  extremely  limited.     As  we  have  seen, 

the   few   agents    had   no    authority    to    issue   policies. 

They  received  no  commissions  for  securing  business, 

their  compensation  consisting  merely  of  a  small  fee 

for  their  labor  in  making  the  survey,  which  was  paid 

by   the  insured,   another  small   fee  of  fifty  cents   for 

[152] 


THE  ^TNA  AND  ITS  AGENTS 


filling  in  the  policy,  and  finally  a  fee  for  assisting  in 
the  adjustment  of  a  loss. 

It,  therefore,  was  an  epoch-making  event  in  the 
evolution  of  the  insurance  agent  when  the  newly 
organized  Company  decided  to  establish  its  business 
on  a  national  or  on  even  an  international  scale.  This 
new  and  bold  policy  depended  solely  for  its  success 
upon  the  ability  of  the  Company  to  select  agents 
distant  from  its  home  office  who  could  be  trusted  to 
transact  business  with  the  same  judgment  and 
discretion,  and  with  the  same  consideration  for  the 
welfare  of  the  institution,  as  would  be  exercised  by 
the  Officers  and  Directors  themselves.  Doleful 
prophecies  of  disaster  greeted  this  move.  Even  after 
a  decade  of  business,  echoes  of  these  predictions 
still  could  be  heard,  for  in  1830  Secretary  Goodwin 
wrote  to  one  of  the  agents: 

It  is  the  opinion  of  some  persons  of  considerable  observation 
that  an  insurance  company  cannot  succeed  that  transacts  a 
majority  of  its  business  by  agents. 

We  do  not  subscribe  to  that  doctrine,  but  on  the  contrary 
think  that  an  intelligent  agent  is  as  capable  of  transacting  the 
business  of  his  agency  as  a  Board  of  Directors  are  the  business 
of  the  office.  Such  will  not  be  the  case,  however,  of  an  agent  who 
is  governed  by  no  other  motive  than  gain. 

Insurance  like  all  other  business  must  be  conducted  with 
judgment  and  caution  to  render  it  successful.  It  becomes  a 
gambling  business  when  no  attention  is  paid  to  amount,  location 
and  character,  and  like  all  gambling  will  end  in  ruin. 

It  was  no  easy  undertaking  upon  which  the  young 
Company  was  about  to  embark.  Not  only  must  the 
agents  be  found  —  men  of  unquestionable  character, 
spotless  integrity  and  mature  judgment  —  but  when 
found    they    must    be    trained    for    the    duties    and 

[^53] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

responsibilities  of  their  new  profession.  Many  text- 
books of  exceeding  value  even  to  the  experienced 
agent  of  to-day  might  be  compiled  from  the  letters 
which  were  written  to  the  early  recruits  by  i^tna 
officials,  and  from  the  pamphlets  and  booklets  which 
were  prepared  for  their  guidance  during  the  first  few 
decades  of  the  Company's  existence.  Among  these  was 
a  little  booklet  prepared  by  Secretary  Perkins  in 
September,  1819,  entitled  "Instructions  and  Explana- 
tions for  the  use  and  direction  of  the  Agents  of  the 
JEtna  Insurance  Company,"  the  first  of  its  kind  ever 
issued  by  a  fire  insurance  company.  Revised  in 
1826,  again  in  1830  and  at  frequent  intervals  thereafter, 
this  primer  of  underwriting,  supplemented  by  the 
letters  of  Secretaries  Perkins,  Goodwin  and  Loomis 
and  finally  by  the  "iEtna  Bible"  —  an  honor  title 
bestowed  on  the  "Guide  to  Fire  Insurance"  issued 
by  General  Agent  J.  B.  Bennett  of  the  ^Etna's  Western 
Branch  in  1857  —  contain  all  the  elements  of  a  complete 
educational  course  for  the  profession  of  an  insurance 
agent. 

Let  us  turn  at  random  the  pages  of  the  "yEtna 
Bible."  Here  on  page  149  we  will  find  the  following 
advice  to  an  agent  under  the  caption  "Soliciting": 

There  is,  probably,  no  occupation  in  life,  where  it  is  so  necessary 
to  combat  the  caprices  of  mankind,  and  to  deal  with  humanity 
in  such  various  phases,  as  the  solicitation  of  insurance;  and  no 
class  of  men,  consequently,  require  in  a  greater  degree,  that 
peculiar  lact  which  a  close  knowledge  of  human  nature  gives  its 
possessor  than  insurance  agents. 

An  agent  who  talks  to  all  men  in  the  same  strain,  using  the 
same  arguments  in  every  case,  will  hardly  reach  the  maximum  of 
success.     The   successful    agent   has   to   study   his   subject    as   a 

[154] 


THE  ^TNA  AND  ITS  AGENTS 


physician   does   a   patient  —  they   do   not   all    require   the   same 
treatment. 

Most  men  have  some  keynote  ~  somt  chord— hy  touching 
which  you  lay  bare  the  soul.  It  may  vibrate  ever  so  slichtly, 
but  vibrate  it  will,  according  to  the  nature  which  animates  it; 
and  this  is  all  that  is  necessary.  Many  men,  keen  judges  of 
humanity,  understand  this  principle  thoroughly,  and  can  touch 
these  keys  with  a  delicacy  oi  finesse  indicating  genius,  if  not 
positive  intuition.  This  judgment  can  be  a  science"  in  which  all, 
by  study,  practice  and  observation,  can  become  more  or  less 
proficient. 

In  the  selection  of  its  first  agents  the  iEtna  moved 
with  the  greatest  caution.  Those  chosen  were,  almost 
without  exception,  either  former  residents  of  Hartford 
or  known  personally  by  one  or  more  of  the  Directors. 
While  it  is  always  interesting  to  know  the  "firsts"  in 
any  enterprise,  to  devote  even  a  line  to  the  "first" 
iEtna  agent  in  each  locality  where  one  may  now  be 
found,  would  alone  fill  a  volume  much  larger  than  this. 
As  there  are  to-day  over  10,000  ^Etna  agents  in  the 
hamlets,  villages  and  cities  of  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  this  would  mean  an  equal  number  of  "firsts." 
There  are  certain  special  sections  and  localities, 
however,  which  deserve  special  mention  because  of 
their  relation  to  the  whole  story. 

It  would  appear  from  the  records  that  Franklin 
Ripley,  of  Greenfield,  Massachusetts,  was  the  first 
agent  appointed  by  the  yEtna,  although  that  distinction 
may,  with  equal  warrant,  be  claimed  for  several 
others,  for  it  is  probable  that  the  first  dozen  agents 
were  named  simultaneously.  For  convenience  in 
making  entries  in  the  journal  and  other  books  of 
account,  Secretary  Perkins  designated  each  new  agent 
by    a    number.      If   the    sequence    of   those    numbers 

[155] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


indicates  the  order  in  which  the  agents  were  chosen, 
then  the  case  is  made  for  Frankhn  Ripley.  His  number 
was  "22."  All  lower  numbers  were  used  to  indicate 
accounts  other  than  those  of  agents.  WiUiam  L. 
Perkins  of  Ashford,  Connecticut,  of  whom  we  shall 
hear  more,  might  rise  and  challenge  this  reasoning, 
for  he  was  appointed  about  the  same  time  as  Ripley 
and  his  account  number  also  was  "22";  but  this  prob- 
ably was  a  mistake  in  entry,  for  Ripley's  first  policy  is 
No.  44  and  Perkins'  No.  64.  Other  agents  appointed 
during  the  first  few  months  were  Hall  &  Green  at 
Rockingham,  Vermont;  George  W.  Hall,  Brattleboro, 
Vermont;  Daniel  Rand,  Middletown,  Connecticut; 
Gurdon  Robins,  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina;  Orin 
Beckley,  Berlin,  Connecticut;  Roger  L.  Skinner, 
New  Haven,  Connecticut;  John  Ely,  Jr.,  Albany, 
New  York;  Roger  Whittelsey,  Southington,  Connecti- 
cut; Thomas  Beals,  Canandaigua,  New  York;  Joseph 
Wood,  Stamford,  Connecticut;  Stephen  Tillinghast, 
Providence,  Rhode  Island;  Alexander  B.  Converse, 
Troy,  New  York;  Everard  Peck,  Rochester,  New  York; 
Isaac  C.  Bates,  Northampton,  Massachusetts;  Ezekiel 
R.  Colt,  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts;  and  Griswold 
&  Follett,  Burlington,  Vermont. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Gurdon  Robins,  of 
Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  wrote  the  first  ^tna 
policy  outside  of  Connecticut,  No.  40,  for  ^2,000, 
on  which  the  premium  was  $3^.  Before  moving 
to  the  South,  Robins  had  lived  in  Hartford,  and  in 
after  years  he  returned  to  his  old  home.  He  was  a 
brother  of  Ephraim   Robins  who,   as   founder  of  the 

[156] 


THE  ^TNA  AND  ITS  AGENTS 


general  agency  at  Cincinnati  for  the  Protection 
Insurance  Company  in  1826,  came  to  be  known  as 
the  father  of  all  General  Agents.  Although  never 
connected  with  the  ^Etna,  he  helped,  nevertheless, 
to  lay  the  foundations  for  the  great  Western  Branch 
of  the  Company,  the  history  of  which  will  be  given 
in  another  chapter. 

There  is  a  story  or  incident  of  interest  connected 
with  nearly  all  of  the  early  agents  whose  names  we 
have  given.  On  July  3,  1820,  John  Ely,  Jr.,  of  Albany, 
sent  in  to  the  home  office  a  policy  for  $5,000  on 
property  owned  by  Martin  Van  Burcn,  eighth 
President  of  the  United  States.  It  was  through 
Daniel  Rand,  the  first  agent  at  Middletown,  that  the 
JEtna.  inaugurated  the  business  of  Reinsurance  by 
re-insuring  the  risks  of  the  Middletown  Fire  Insurance 
Company,  to  which  we  have  referred  in  our  general 
story.  Rand  was  the  secretary  of  the  Middletown 
company.  A  distinction  of  a  different  kind  can  be 
credited  to  Isaac  C.  Bates,  the  agent  at  Northampton, 
for  it  was  through  him  that  the  /Etna,  paid  in  1821 
its  first  loss  by  fire. 

For  many  years  during  the  early  life  of  the  /Etna, 
the  work  of  supervising  agencies,  appointing  new- 
agents,  adjusting  losses  and  other  similar  duties, 
were,  as  we  have  seen,  performed  by  the  Officers  and 
Directors  of  the  Company.  It  was  not  until  near 
the  middle  of  the  century  that  expanding  business 
and  growing  needs  evolved  specialists  to  discharge 
these  duties,  and  they  were  known  as  Special  and 
General  Agents.      In    the    history    of   American    Fire 

I157] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

Insurance  there  appears  to  be  more  or  less  confusion 
in  the  use  of  the  terms  Special  Agent  and  General 
Agent;  in  many  cases  they  have  been  used  inter- 
changeably, and  are  so  used  even  to-day.  In  order 
to  avoid  confusion,  however,  we  will  describe  the 
Special  Agent  as  one  employed  by  the  Company  to 
travel,  supervise  agencies  and  appoint  or  recommend 
the  appointment  of  new  agents,  and  the  General 
Agent  as  one  who  has  charge  of  a  branch  of  the 
Company's  business,  with  authority  to  appoint 
sub-agents,  supervise  their  work,  receive  their  reports 
and  adjust  losses  and  otherwise  conduct  the  business 
of  the  Company  in  a  certain  specified  territory. 

Whatever  dispute  there  may  be  over  the  question 
of  whether  Franklin  Ripley  or  WiUiam  L.  Perkins 
was  the  first  local  agent  for  the  ^tna,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  Perkins  was  the  first  special  agent  of  the 
Company,  and  so  far  as  is  known,  the  first  of  all  special 
agents.  Under  date  of  October  27,  1825,  this  entry 
appears  in  the  i^tna  minutes  of  a  Directors'  meeting: 

Voted  to  authorize  employment  of  suitable  person  to  travel 
in  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Missouri  and  Southern 
states  and  establish  agencies. 

William  L.  Perkins  was  chosen  as  the  "suitable 
person,"  and  on  November  '^i^o  he  turned  over  his 
local  agency  at  Ashford  to  the  care  of  Ichabod  Bulkley 
and  prepared  for  what  in  those  days  was  a  formidable 
journey,  for  the  stage-coach  was  still  the  only  mode 
of  inland  travel.  When  he  returned  six  months  later, 
the  i^tna  was  known  and  agencies  had  been  established 
in  practically  every  state  of  the  Union.     Perkins  had 

[158] 


THE  ^TNA  AND  ITS  AGENTS 


traveled  as  far  south  as  Natchez,  Mississippi,  and  as 
far  west  as  Fort  Dearborn,  Illinois,  the  future  site 
of  Chicago.  Among  the  many  agents  he  appointed, 
special  mention  may  be  made  of  Thaddeus  Sanford 
at  Mobile,  Alabama.  He  proved  to  be  an  industrious 
agent,  for  when  in  the  fall  of  1827  occurred  the  great 
fire  which  wiped  out  Mobile  and  precipitated  the 
first  financial  crisis  in  the  ajffairs  of  the  ^Etna,  the 
policies  written  by  Sanford  during  the  preceding 
year  cost  the  Company  over  |6o,ooo.  This  calamity 
did  not  shake  the  faith  of  the  Directors  far  awav  in 
Hartford,  for  Secretary  Perkins  immediately  on  receipt 
of  the  bad  news  sent  the  following  message  to  Sanford: 
"Exercising  the  same  prudence  as  heretofore,  do  not 
decline  risks,"  although  at  the  moment  he  might 
have  been  glad  if  he  could  have  written,  as  Secretary 
Loomis  did  twenty  years  later  to  Andrew  N.  Williams, 
an  agent  at  West  Woodstock,  Connecticut: 

We  have  been  in  this  office  sixteen  years  and  this  is  the  first 
intimation  that  we  have  an  agency  at  West  Woodstock.  Altho' 
you  have  made  us  no  money,  we  can  certify  you  have  lost  none 
for  us. 

While  Special  Agent  Perkins  was  traveling  through 
the  W^est  and  South,  the  i^tna  officials  back  in  Hartford 
were  not  idle.  They  were  rapidly  increasing  the 
number  of  agencies  in  Connecticut  and  nearby  States. 
In  fact,  by  this  time,  the  Company  had  become  not 
only  national  in  scope,  but  also  international,  for  it  had 
agencies  in  every  important  American  town  and  in 
Canada  as  well. 

Here  again  we  find  that  the  ^tna  was  a  pioneer, 

[159] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


for   it   was   the   first  American   Company   to   appoint 
agents  and  write  fire  insurance  in  Canada. 

It  was  on  December  22,  1821,  that  Abijah  Bigelow, 
of  Montreal,  Quebec,  was  appointed  as  the  first 
Canadian  agent  for  the  iEtna.  On  that  date  Secretary 
Perkins  wrote  to  him  enclosing  the  commission.  His 
letter  is  worth  giving  in  full,  as  it  not  only  illustrates 
the  difficulties  of  communication  in  those  days,  but  it 
also  contains  in  part  the  terms  of  the  agent's  employ- 
ment, and  caution  as  to  acceptance  of  too  much 
hability  subject  to  a  sweeping  fire  —  which  is  one  of 
the  very  basic  principles  of  fire  underwriting  today. 

Hartford  Con. 
Dec.  22nd,  1 821. 
Mr.  Abijah  Bigelow: 

Sir,  I  address  you  in  consequence  of  a  letter  re^  by- 
Mr.  Ward  Woodbridge  from  Mr.  Jacob  DeWitt,  presuming  from 
its  contents  that  Mr.  DeWitt  has  conferred  with  you  upon  the 
subject  of  an  agency  for  the  ^Etna  Ins.  Co.  of  this  place, 
and  upon  the  supposition  that  the  appointment  would  be 
agreeable  to  you.  I  have  pleasure  herewith  to  send  you  a  com- 
mission —  the  other  necessary  documents  must  be  forwarded  by 
private  conveyance  for  which  I  suppose  I  shall  have  an  opportunity 
via  Boston  next  week  &  shall  send  one  hundred  Blank  policies 
signed  by  our  Pres.  &  Secy.  &  sealed  with  the  seal  of  the  office, 
a  letter  of  instructions,  copies  of  policies,  and  advertisements. 
Mr.  DeWitt  remarks  that  he  thinks  higher  premiums  are  now  paid 
in  Montreal  than  our  proposals  demand,  if  so  it  may  not  be  best 
to  use  the  advertisements  sent,  but  whether  you  do  or  do  not  use 
them  you  will  if  you  think  proper  advertise  your  Agency  in  the 
News  paper  —  By  our  printed  letter  of  instructions  you  will 
perceive  that  you  are  limited  not  to  take  a  risk  exceeding  five 
thousand  dollars.  By  this  you  will  consider  yourself  authorized 
to  take  risks  of  any  amt.  not  exceeding  $10,000.  The  printed 
letter  also  limits  your  commission  to  two  and  a  half  pr  ct.  instead 
of  which  5  pr  ct.  will  be  allowed  and  p4  you.  —  However  anxious 
the  Directors  are  to  do  business  there  is  one  point  of  prudence 
they  wish  to  keep  constantly  in  view  —  to  wit,  never  to  endanger 

[160] 


THE  .ETNA  AND  ITS  AGENTS 


the  existence  of  the  Company  by  risking  too  much  exposed  to 
a  sweeping  fire.  We  know  indeed  a  whole  city  may  be  con- 
flagrated but  such  a  contingency  is  too  remote  to  be  calculated 
upon,  while  whole  streets  and  squares  are  so  often  destroyed, 
it  might  with  propriety  be  deemed  folly  in  us  to  risk  our  whole* 
or  a  major  part  of  our  capital  upon  them.  We  wish  returns 
by  mail  though  the  postage  will  be  considerable  unless  a  few  days 
delay  will  afford  a  safe  and  convenient  private  conveyance. 

I  will  thank  you  to  remark  to  Mr.  DeWitt  that  upon  the 
recommendation  of  Mr.  Woodbridge  when  he  returned  from 
Montreal  last  season  the  office  concluded  to  appoint  him  the 
agent  which  would  long  since  have  been  done  had  an  opportunity 
to  for^  the  papers  been  known  to  me. 

I  am  respectfully  your  ob^  Servant 

Isaac  Perkins,  Secy. 

To-day  the  i^tna  Insurance  Company  is  as  well 
known  in  Canada  as  it  is  in  the  United  States;  in 
fact,  many  Canadians  look  upon  it  as  a  Canadian 
institution,  for  it  began  operations  there  nearly  half 
a  century  before  the  Dominion  of  Canada  was  formed. 
The  story  of  the  development  of  the  Company's 
business  there  would  be  only  a  repetition  on  a  smaller 
scale  of  the  growth  of  the  Mtna.  in  the  United  States. 
Abijah  Bigelow  continued  to  serve  as  the  agent  at 
Montreal  until  1835. 

The  second  agent  in  Canada  was  David  R.  Stewart 
of  Quebec,  appointed  in  1827.  In  the  previous  year 
John  Leander  Starr  was  named  as  the  first  .-Etna 
agent  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  and  in  1829  Elisha 
De  W.  Ratchford  became  the  first  iEtna  agent  at 
St.  John,  New  Brunswick.  No  agent  was  appointed  in 
Toronto  until  June,  1842,  when  Director  Joseph 
Morgan,  in  the  course  of  one  of  his  many  trips  as 
special  agent  for  the  ^tna,  appointed  John  Walton 
as    the    first    agent    there.    Walton     served   only    two 

II  [161] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

years    when    he    was    succeeded    by   Edward   George 
O'Brien. 

Unlike  the  Western  Branch  of  the  i^tna,  with  its 
headquarters  in  Chicago,  or  the  Pacific  Branch  at 
San  Francisco,  the  main  business  of  the  Company 
in  the  Canadian  field  has  always  been  directed  from 
the  Home  Office  at  Hartford,  and  for  several  years 
past  has  been  under  the  immediate  supervision  of 
Secretary  Edgar  J.  Sloan.  In  accordance  with  a  ruling 
of  the  Canadian  Superintendent  of  Insurance,  how- 
ever, the  Company  on  January  i,  191 6,  established  a 
Canadian  Branch  Office  at  Toronto,  Ontario,  to  which 
all  loss  reports,  monthly  accounts  and  remittances 
must  be  sent,  and  Chief  Agent  A.  M.  M.  Kirkpatrick, 
who  is  also  one  of  the  local  agents  there,  was  placed 
in  charge  as  Chief  Canadian  Agent.  All  agents  in 
Canada,  however,  are  appointed  and  controlled  by 
the  Home  Office,  thus  bringing  them  in  direct  touch 
with  the  officials  of  the  Company,  to  the  great  advan- 
tage of  both. 

The  only  companies  writing  insurance  in  Canada 
at  the  time  of  the  Etna's  entrance  in  1821,  were  the 
Phoenix  of  London,  which  began  its  Canadian  business 
in  1 804,  and  the  Quebec  Fire  Assurance  Company,  which 
celebrated  its  one  hundredth  anniversary  in  191 8. 
It  was  not  until  1869,  two  years  after  the  formation 
of  the  Dominion,  that  Canada  began  to  collect  insurance 
statistics.  Many  serious  fires  have  occurred  which  have 
wiped  out  the  profits  of  years,  notably  at  Montreal, 
Quebec,  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  Ottawa,  Toronto 
and  Halifax. 

[162] 


THE  ^TNA  AND  ITS  AGENTS 

c;^>wei» 


It  was  in  1828  that  the  ^tna  made  its  first 
experiment  in  the  General  Agency  field  and  appointed 
as  its  first  General  Agent  Jeremiah  Van  Rensselaer 
of  Canandaigua,  New  York.  He  had  been  the  secretary 
of  the  Western  Fire  Insurance  Company  of  New 
York,  which  had  just  failed.  When  he  came  with  the 
JEtna  he  brought  with  him  about  twenty  former 
agents  of  the  Western  Company,  located  principally 
in  Western  New  York  towns.  His  territory  was  not 
clearly  defined,  for  he  was  authorized  to  appoint 
sub-agents  at  any  point  in  Western  New  York  or  in 
the  Western  country,  except  in  such  places  as  JEtna 
agents  were  already  operating.  Among  the  Company's 
principal  Western  agents  at  this  time  were  Samuel 
Cowles,  a  former  Hartford  resident  who  had  moved 
to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  to  take  up  the  practice  of  law 
in  1 8 19;  Henry  S.  Cole,  appointed  at  Detroit  in  182J; 
General  Simon  Perkins,  first  ^^tna  agent  at  Warren, 
Ohio;  William  Goodman,  second  /Etna,  agent  at 
Cincinnati,  having  in  1826  succeeded  his  father, 
Timothy  S.  Goodman,  appointed  in  December,  1823; 
Nathaniel  Sawyer,  Chillicothe,  Ohio;  and  Isaac  Thoni, 
Louisville,  Kentucky,  both  appointed  as  first  agents 
in  1825;  James  Crosby  at  Zanesville,  Ohio,  John 
Sering  at  Washington,  Indiana,  and  James  Smith 
at  Vincennes,  Indiana — all  appointed  in  1826  as  the 
first  agents  in  their  respective  towns. 

It  was  on  February  4,  1828,  that  Jeremiah  Van 
Rensselaer  received  his  commission  as  General  Agent 
with  full  authority  to  appoint  sub-agents  at  his  pleasure. 
Doubt   must   have   come   to   the  minds   of  the   .-Etna 

[163] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


officials  as  to  the  wisdom  of  what  they  had  felt  in  the 
beginning  to  be  a  somewhat  radical  extension  of  their 
original  plan  for  conducting  their  business  through 
agents,  for  in  the  following  October  Secretary  Goodwin 
wrote  to  Van  Rensselaer  stating  that  thereafter  the 
appointment  of  agents  in  his  territory  would  be  made 
directly  by  the  Home  Office,  but  that  his  recommenda- 
tions as  to  such  appointments  would  be  followed.  This 
arrangement  continued  until  January,  1829,  when 
occurred  the  death  of  General  Agent  Van  Rensselaer. 
To  an  applicant  for  the  vacant  position  Secretary 
Goodwin  wrote:  "After  mature  deliberation  at  a 
special  meeting  the  Directors  concluded  that  it  was 
inexpedient  to  appoint  another  General  Agent,  but  to 
transact  the  business  in  the  ordinary  way." 

With  one  exception.  Van  Rensselaer  was  the  last 
General  Agent  of  the  /Etna  until  the  appointment  of 
J.  B.  Bennett  and  the  establishment  of  the  Western 
Branch  at  Cincinnati  in  1853.  The  exception  occurred 
in  1840  when  Herman  Baldwin,  /Etna  agent  at 
Richmond,  Virginia,  was  appointed  General  Agent  for 
Virginia.  His  claim  to  the  title  of  General  Agent  was 
largely  technical,  however.  He  was  named  at  the 
request  of  other  iEtna  agents  in  Virginia,  who  found 
that  if  they  could  serve  as  sub-agents  of  a  General 
Agent,  it  would  be  unnecessary  for  them  to  pay  a 
special  state  tax  which  had  been  levied  against  all 
direct-reporting  agents  of  foreign  insurance  companies. 
He  was  therefore  a  General  Agent  in  name  only. 

With  expanding  business  and  an  increasing  number 
of  agents  at  distant  points,  it  became  less   and  less 

[164] 


THE  ^TNA  AND  ITS  AGENTS 


possible  for  the  directors  of  the  Company  to  devote 
their  time  to  traveling  about  the  country  supervising 
the  agency  work,  and  the  Special  Agent  became  more 
and  more  a  necessary  and  important  figure  in  the  growing 
organization.  Until  about  1840  the  duties  of  Special 
Agent  were  largely  performed  by  Director  Joseph 
Morgan,  when  additional  men  were  employed. 

Among  these  special  mention  may  be  made  of 
Col.  A.  A.  Williams,  who  served  the  ^^tna  as  Special 
Agent  from  1840  until  after  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War;  S.  B.  Hamilton,  one  of  the  Directors,  who  was 
a  Special  Agent  from  1840  to  1848,  and  who  was  then 
made  local  agent  at  Albany,  New  York,  for  the  three 
Hartford  insurance  companies;  W.  I.  Pardee,  whose 
title  was  General  Agent  with  headquarters  at  Oswego, 
New  York,  but  who  was  really  special  agent  for  much 
of  the  western  territory  and  was  appointed  in  1848; 
A.  F.  Willmarth,  who  was  elected  traveling  agent 
for  the  New  England  territory  in  1850  and  later 
became  the  first  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  y^tna, 
and  in  1856  Vice-President  of  the  Home  Insurance 
Company  of  New  York;  C.  C.  Hine,  appointed  in  1859 
to  supervise  the  work  of  agents  in  Alabama  and  Georgia, 
and  later  editor  of  The  Insurance  Monitor  of  New  York; 
Henry  L.  Pasco,  appointed  as  special  agent  in  the  late 
fifties  and  later  local  agent  at  Chicago  as  a  partner  of 
Jonathan  Goodwin,  Jr.,  under  the  firm  name  of  Goodwin 
&  Pasco,  until  after  the  great  Chicago  fire  of  1871; 
E.  J.  Bassett,  who  served  the  ^Etna  continuously  as 
special  agent  with  the  title  of  General  Agent  from 
1862  until  his  death  in   1891;    J.   C.  Hilhard,  special 

[165] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


agent  from  1866  to  1891.  Many  other  names  familiar 
in  the  history  of  American  Fire  Insurance  might  be 
enumerated  in  this  list.  The  yEtna  to-day  has  special 
agents  in  every  State  in  the  Union  and  for  all  the 
Provinces  of  Canada. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  many  of  the  JEtnsL  agents 
of  to-day,  if  not  to  the  general  reader,  to  mention 
the  names  of  the  first  of  their  predecessors  in  some  of 
the  states  and  principal  cities  of  the  country,  and 
to  trace,  briefly,  the  progress  of  a  few  of  the  more 
important  agencies  such  as  those  at  Chicago,  Cincinnati, 
New  York,  and  possibly  one  or  two  others  which  were 
destined  to  figure  largely  in  the  future  history  of  the 
Company.     The  list  follows: 

Alabama,  Mobile,  Thaddeus  Sanford,  1825 
California,  San  Francisco,  Edward  H.  Parker,  1858 
Connecdcut,  Ashford,  William  L.  Perkins,  1819  ' 

Hartford,  General  Leonard  A.  Dickinson,  1868 
District  of  Columbia,  Washington,  Moses  Poor,  1826. 
Georgia,  Augusta,  Horatio  Alden,  1821, 
Illinois,  Chicago,  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard,  1843. 
Indiana,  W^ashington,  John  Sering,  1826. 
Kentucky,  Louisville,  Isaac  Thorn,  1825. 
Louisiana,  New  Orleans,  Bowers,  Osborne  &  Co.,  1823 
Maine,  Saco,  Lauriston  Ward,  1822, 
Maryland,  Baltimore,  Leonard  Kimball,  1824. 
Massachusetts,  Greenfield,  Franklin  Ripley,  18 19. 
Boston,  Charles  D.  Coolidge,  1826. 
Michigan,  Detroit,  Henry  S.  Cole,  1823. 
Mississippi,  Natchez,  H.  A.  Daingerfield,  1826. 
Missouri,  St.  Louis,  Christian  Saunders,  1830. 
New  Hampshire,  Portsmouth,  Samuel  Lord,  1821. 
New  Jersey,  Paterson,  Philomen  Dickerson,  1821. 
New  York,  Albany,  John  Ely,  Jr.,  18 19. 

New  York  City,  Edward  Dickenson,  1826. 
North  CaroHna,  Fayetteville,  Gurdon  Robins,  18 19. 
Ohio,  Cleveland,  Samuel  Cowles,  18 19. 

[166] 


THE  ^.TNA  AND  ITS  AGENTS 


Pennsylvania,  Pittsburgh,  Edward  Seldon,  1820. 

Philadelphia,  Mark  Richards,  1826. 
Rhode  Island,  Providence,  Stephen  Tillinghast,  1820. 
South  Carolina,  Cheraw,  Augustin  Averill,  1821. 
Vermont,  Rockingham,  Hall  &  Green,  1819. 
Virginia,  Richmond,  Thomas  May,  1824. 
West  Virginia,  Wheeling,  Samuel  H.  Fitzhugh,  1826. 

As  may  be  noted  in  the  foregoing  list,  it  was  not 
until  1868,  when  the  /Etna  was  nearly  half  a  century 
old,  that  a  local  agent  for  the  city  of  Hartford  was 
chosen.  Up  to  this  time  all  of  the  Company's  local 
business  had  been  conducted  directly  through  the 
home  office.  On  January  22  of  this  year  General 
Leonard  A.  Dickinson  was  appointed  Hartford  agent. 
Prior  to  the  war  he  had  gained  a  working  knowledge  of 
insurance  as  a  clerk  in  the  offices  of  one  of  the  Hartford 
insurance  companies.  He  served  during  the  Civil 
War  as  a  captain  of  the  Twelfth  Regiment,  Connecticut 
Volunteers.  He  was  a  loyal  friend  of  the  ittna  and 
served  the  Company  continuously,  first  alone,  and 
then  as  senior  member  of  the  agency  firm  of  Dickinson, 
Beardsley  &  Beardsley,  until  his  death  at  the  age  of 
seventy-four  years,  on  January  27,  1901.  This  agency, 
now  operating  under  the  firm  name  of  Beardsley  & 
Beardsley,  has  since  continued  to  represent  the  .Etna 
in  its  own  home  and  maintains  its  offices  in  the  .-Etna 
home  office  building. 

With  the  establishment  by  the  Protection  Insurance 
Company  of  the  General  Agency  under  Ephraim 
Robins  in  1826  and  the  Western  Branch  of  the  .Etna 
under  J.  B.  Bennett  in  1853,  Cincinnati,  which  early 
came  to  be  known  as  the  "Queen  City  of  the  West," 

[167] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

was  destined  to  win  a  unique  position  as  a  school 
for  fire  insurance  underwriters.  Many  men  who  later 
became  dominant  figures  in  the  insurance  world, 
there  received  their  early  training.  It  was  late  in 
1823  when  the  ^Etna  entered  Cincinnati  and  appointed 
Timothy  S.  Goodman,  a  former  Hartford  resident, 
as  its  first  agent.  He  served  until  1826,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  William,  who  retired  in  1837, 
when  Nathaniel  Sawyer,  the  Etna's  first  agent  at 
Chillicothe,  Ohio,  was  placed  in  temporary  charge  of 
the  Cincinnati  agency.  He  returned  to  Chillicothe 
in  1 841.  During  the  next  four  years  the  ^tna  and 
Protection  were  jointly  represented  by  Henry  Stagg 
and  W.  B.  Robins,  son  of  Ephraim,  who  succeeded 
his  father  as  General  Agent  for  the  Protection  in  1846. 
From  1845  to  1848  the  ^tna  agent  was  Henry  Hayes, 
another  former  resident  of  Hartford.  On  his  retirement 
James  H.  Carter  was  appointed,  and  he  served  as  local 
agent  at  Cincinnati  until  the  fall  of  1853,  when  the 
Western  Branch  was  established  under  General  Agent 
J.  B.  Bennett. 

Another  city  which  looms  large  in  the  early  history 
of  fire  insurance,  is  Chicago.  In  the  early  40's  Chicago 
was  still  an  infant,  though  strong,  lusty  and  growing 
rapidly.  Long  before  the  ^tna  established  its  first 
agency  there,  it  had  received  many  applications  for 
insurance  through  agents  in  other  localities.  It  was 
not  until  1842,  however,  after  Director  Joseph  Morgan 
had  visited  the  city  and  made  a  careful  survey  of  the 
situation,  that  the  Company  decided  to  risk  the 
perils     of     what     they     designated     as     a     "wooden 

[168] 


THE  JETNA  AND  ITS  AGENTS 


city."  In  November,  1841,  and  again  in  May,  1842, 
A.  G.  Hazard,  the  ^Etna's  agent  in  New  York  City, 
forwarded  to  the  home  office  applications  which  he 
had  received  from  New  York  owners  of  Chicago 
property,  but  Secretary  Loomis  wrote  in  reply:  "We 
have  had  many  applications  from  Chicago,  but  they 
have  been  uniformly  declined." 

While  in  Chicago,  Director  Morgan  made  tentative 
arrangements  with  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard  to  represent 
the  /Etna  in  that  city.  This  was  in  the  early  fall  of 
1842;  but  he  was  not  actually  commissioned  by  the 
Company  to  act  as  agent  until  June  3d  of  the  following 
year.  The  first  applications  sent  in  by  Hubbard 
were  for  Stephen  F.  Gale  and  the  firm  of  Botsford 
&  Bairs  on  November  4,  1842.  An  extract  from 
the  letter  of  Secretary  Loomis,  dated  November  15, 
acknowledging  these  applications,  is  of  interest  as 
indicating  the  hesitancy  with  which  the  Company 
entered  the  new  field,  and  as  being  prophetic,  as  well 
as  expressive  of  a  fear  which  the  great  Chicago  fire 
of  1871  more  than  justified. 

"We  would  be  very  careful,"  wrote  Loomis,  "what 
risks  we  take  in  Chicago  and  how  we  take  them. 
It  is  a  new  place,  and  in  all  such  there  is  generally 
a  tendency  of  everything  to  the  center  —  hence,  houses, 
shops  and  shanties  occupied  for  purposes  indescribably 
varied,  are  wedged  in  together  with  ample  material 
to  cause  the  destruction  of  the  whole,  good,  bad  and 
indifferent.  Against  such  calamity  it  becomes  our 
duty  to  protect  ourselves .'' 

Hubbard   continued   to   represent   the   .'Etna   until 

I169I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSUR.ANCE 

1866  —  at  first  alone  and  then  as  a  member  of  the 
agency  firm  of  Hubbard  &  Hunt.  On  the  retirement 
of  Hubbard  the  agency  was  taken  over  by  a  new  firm 
composed  of  Jonathan  Goodwin,  Jr.,  former  assistant 
secretary  of  the  JEtna^  and  Henry  L.  Pasco,  for  many 
years  a  special  agent  for  the  Home  Of^ce.  As  we 
have  already  noted,  they  were  the  Chicago  agents 
at  the  time  of  the  great  fire.  This  arrangement  contin- 
ued until  June  3,  1875,  when  the  JEtna  converted  the 
agency  into  a  Branch  office  with  Goodwin  in  charge 
as  General  Agent.  He  served  in  this  capacity  until 
his  retirement  in  1885,  when  he  was  succeeded  on 
June  4th  by  James  S.  Gadsden,  who  for  many  years  had 
been  connected  with  the  inland  marine  division  of 
the  Chicago  agency.  At  the  same  time  Louis  O. 
Kohtz  was  appointed  as  Assistant  General  Agent 
and  placed  in  charge  of  the  inland  marine  work.  His 
service  with  the  JEtna  began  shortly  after  the  close 
of  the  Civil  War,  through  which  he  served.  It  was  in 
1866  that  he  entered  the  office  of  the  ^Etna's  Chicago 
agency,  and  his  connection  with  the  Company  has  been 
continuous  to  the  present  time.  On  the  death  of 
Mr.  Gadsden,  which  occurred  on  September  17,  191 1, 
Mr.  Kohtz  was  promoted  to  the  position  of  General 
Agent  of  the  Marine  Branch. 

As  the  City  of  Chicago  grew  with  mushroom-like 
rapidity  and  its  population  leaped  from  the  thousands 
into  the  millions,  the  Chicago  Branch  of  the  ^tna 
under  Gadsden  and  Kohtz  enjoyed  a  corresponding 
growth  until  in  1907  it  had  become  one  of  the  important 
departments   of   the    great    national    organization    of 

[170] 


THE  ^TNA  AND  ITS  AGENTS 


the  Company.  In  this  year,  as  we  will  read  in  a 
succeeding  chapter,  the  Chicago  Branch  was  merged 
with  the  Western  Branch,  the  headquarters  of  which 
were  transferred  from  Cincinnati  to  Chicago. 

In  our  general  story  mention  has  been  made  of 
the  difficulties  confronting  the  ^tna  in  the  South  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War.  An  examination  of  the  cor- 
respondence between  the  home  office  and  the  southern 
agents  at  this  time  strikingly  illustrates  the  loyal 
and  friendly  spirit  which  always  has  distinguished 
the  relations  between  the  iEtna  and  its  agents. 

Thomas  Muldon  of  Mobile,  Alabama,  was  one  of 

the  last  /Etna,  agents  in  the  South  to  close  his  agency 

before  the  war  and  he  also  was  one  of  the  first,  if  not 

actually   the  first,   to  be  re-appointed  after  the  war. 

His  last  letter  to  the  ^tna,  on  May  31,  1861,  breathes 

a  spirit  of  sadness  and  regret,  despite   the  generally 

prevailing  bitterness: 

My  business  relations  with  the  i^tna  for  the  last  twelve  years 
have  been  too  pleasant  to  forget  you  all  so  soon.  I  fear, 
however,  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  you  will  again  he  able 
to  open  agencies  South. 

In  reply  Vice-President  Alexander  wrote: 

Our  relations  with  our  Southern  agencies  have  been  so  cordial 
and  satisfactory  that  we  cannot  allow  ourselves  to  despair  of  a 
more  speedy  reunion  than  you  appear  to  anticipate. 

On  July   12,   1865,  immediately  after  the  close  of 

the  war,  Secretary  Lucius  J.  Hendee  wrote  as  follows 

to  an  applicant  for  appointment  as  agent  at  Mobile: 

We  had  the  pleasure  of  a  short  visit  from  our  former  agent, 
Mr.  Muldon,  while  in  this  city.  He  is  anxious  to  represent  the 
^tna  at  Mobile  whenever  we  decide  to  resume  business  in  your 
city,  and  we  shall  give  him  the  preference. 

[171] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

And  so,  in  compliance  with  this  promise,  Thomas 
Muldon,   on    September    17,    1865,    was   re-appointed. 

Among  the  earliest  ^tna  agents  in  the  South,  in 
addition  to  Gurdon  Robins,  of  Fayetteville,  North 
Carolina,  who  was  the  first,  were  Horatio  Alden,  a 
Hartford  resident  who  moved  to  Augusta,  Georgia,  in 
1 821,  and  who  later  returned  to  his  old  home  and 
became  a  director  of  the  Company;  Anson  Kimberley 
at  Darien,  Georgia,  who  served  from  1821  to  1837  and 
was  then  succeeded  by  Ebenezer  S.  Rees,  grandfather  of 
Henry  E.  Rees,  who  is  now  Vice-President  of  the  iEtna 
and  in  direct  charge  of  the  entire  southern  field  for  the 
Company;  Augustine  Averill  at  Cheraw,  South  Carolina, 
appointed  in  1822;  and  Salma  Manton  at  Savannah, 
Georgia,  appointed  in  1821  and  succeeded  in  1824 
by  Isaac  Cohen,  who,  with  his  son,  continued  to 
represent  the  yEtna  there  until  the  beginning  of 
the  war. 

We  have  traced,  however  briefly,  the  development 
of  the  y^tna  agencies  and  business  in  the  West,  the 
South,  in  Canada,  and  in  a  few  of  the  important 
cities  in  those  sections.  Let  us  now,  for  a  moment, 
turn  to  the  East.  Reference  already  has  been  made 
to  the  Company's  entrance  into  New  York  City  in 
1836  following  the  disastrous  fire  of  '3^.  Edward 
Dickenson  appears  to  have  been  the  first  JEtna.  agent 
there,  having  been  appointed  in  1826.  He  served 
but  a  few  months  and  was  succeeded  by  Humphrey 
Phelps.  But  practically  no  business  was  done  until 
1836  when  A.  G.  Hazard  was  named.  He  retired  on 
July  18,  1845,  the  day  before  the  great  fire  of  1845, 

[172] 


THE  .ETNA  AND  ITS  AGENTS 


which,  as  we  have  seen,  precipitated  the  second  crisis 
in  the  affairs  of  the  i^tna.  Upon  his  retirement, 
Hazard  founded  the  Hazard  Powder  Company  at 
Enfield,  Connecticut.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  Aitnti 
agency  by  Thomas  A.  Alexander,  who  in  1853  became 
Secretary  of  the  iEtna  and  later  Vice-President  and 
President.  His  son  James  A.  then  became  agent  and  so 
continued  until  June  4,  1874,  when  the  local  agency 
was  discontinued  and  he  was  appointed  (ieneral 
Agent  of  the  New  York  City  Branch  office  which 
was  opened  by  the  JEtna  on  that  date. 

James  A.  Alexander  continued  as  General  Agent 
until  the  formation  of  the  firm  of  Scott,  Alexander  6^: 
Talbot,  in  January,  1889;  on  the  death  of  William 
A.  Scott  in  1907  the  firm  name  was  changed  to  John 
M.  Talbot  &  Co.  Mr.  Alexander  remained  with  the 
firm  until  his  death  in  1913  at  the  age  of  eighty-six 
years,  after  more  than  seventy  years  of  continuous 
service  with  the  ^Etna.  He  was  born  July  29,  1827, 
and  as  a  boy  of  fifteen  had  entered  the  ^^tna  agency 
under  his  father  and  A.  G.  Hazard  in  1842.  In  191 5 
there  was  a  general  reorganization  of  the  New  York 
business  when  a  new  firm  —  Russell,  Scott  &  Ziegler 
—  was  formed  to  take  over  the  fire  agency  representa- 
tion. In  February,  four  years  later,  the  firm  name 
was  changed  to  the  present  one  of  Russell  &  Ziegler. 
Meanwhile  the  firm  of  John  M.  Talbot  6s:  Company 
was  changed  to  Talbot,  Bird  &  Co.,  who  for  many 
years  have  been  General  Agents  of  the  Marine  Depart- 
ment in  New  York  City. 

From   1840  to   1870  practically  all  of  the  .Etna's 

[173] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


business  In  New  Jersey  was  handled  by  the  New  York 
City  and  Philadelphia  agencies.  Prior  to  that  time 
there  had  been  several  local  agencies.  It  was  not 
until  the  early  70's,  when  William  B.  Clark,  then 
Assistant  Secretary,  personally  traveled  through  the 
state  and  appointed  local  agents  in  the  various  towns 
and  cities,  that  local  agency  representation  was  revived. 
This  move  was  immediately  followed  by  a  gratifying 
increase  in  the  business,  which  has  since  continued. 

One  of  the  many  evidences  of  the  mutual  good  will 
and  loyalty  that  have  characterized  the  relations 
between  the  ^Etna  and  its  agents  during  the  past 
century,  is  the  length  of  service  of  so  many  of  its 
representatives.  Some  have  served  continuously  for 
more  than  half  a  century,  while  terms  of  thirty  and 
forty  years  are  so  numerous  as  to  be  commonplace. 

Limited  space  has  prohibited  the  recording  of  many 
events  and  incidents  that  have  featured  the  growth 
of  the  thousands  of  ^^tna  agencies  throughout  the 
United  States  and  Canada.  As  far  back  as  1897,  more 
than  twenty  years  ago,  in  commenting  on  the  i^tna 
and  its  agents,  the  Insurance  Magazine  said: 

Many  a  year  has  gone  by,  more  than  forty  of  them,  since 
any  agent  has  had  to  say  to  a  property-holder,  "I  should  like  to 
insure  you  in  the  -^tna;  the  lEtrn.  is  an  old  Hartford  Company, 
and  I  can  safely  say  that  it  will  pay  any  loss  whatever  that  its 
policy  contract  says  it  will  pay."  The  Mtnsi  agent  has  no  solic- 
iting work  to  do.  He  must  inspect  men  and  risks,  but  he  is  not 
compelled  to  solicit  business.  If  an  agent  has  the  /^tna  in  his 
agency  his  reputation  as  an  insurance  man  is  established. 

No  history  of  the  great  agency  system  which  has 
been  so  wonderfully  developed  by  the   ^tna,   would 

[174I 


THE  .ETNA  AND  ITS  AGENTS 


be  complete  that  did  not  tell  of  the  Western,  North- 
western and  Pacific  Branches.  Their  stories,  however, 
we  have  reserved  for  later  chapters. 

As  the  chief  pioneer  and  veteran  of  what  has  come 
to  be  known  as  the  "American  Agency  System"  the 
^tna  Insurance  Company  has  inaugurated  a  business 
which  has  spread  its  network  of  protection  over  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  and  which,  in  the  marine 
field,  is  now  reaching  into  every  part  of  the  world. 


[175] 


Chapter  XII 

THE  WINNING  OF  THE  WEST 

Voted,  To  establish  a  Branch  Office  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and 
to  appoint  J.  B.  Bennett  as  General  Agent  with  full  powers  to 
appoint  new  agents,  remove  them  for  cause,  adjust  losses  and 
attend  to  the  interests  of  the  Company  in  all  particulars;  the 
territory  to  embrace  the  following  States:  Ohio,  Indiana,  Mich- 
igan, Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Kentucky,_  Tennessee, 
Arkansas,  Mississippi,  and  portions  of  Pennsylvania,  Georgia, 
Alabama,  Virginia,  and  the  Territory  of  Minnesota.  Compen- 
sation of  General  Agent,  ^2,000  and  traveling  expenses,  and  a 
commission  of  10%  on  the  net  profits  of  the  business  in  his 
territory — arrangement  to  begin  September  12,  1853. 

Signed,  ^Etna  Insurance  Company, 
Hartford,  Sept.  2,  1853.  E.  G.  Ripley,  Secretary. 

THIS  prosaic  entry  in  one  of  the  old  official 
record  books  of  the  ^Etna  records  the  opening 
of  an  epoch-making  event  in  the  history 
of  the  Company,  and  introduces  a  character  who  was 
to  make  a  lasting  impress  on  the  profession  of  fire 
insurance  underwriting. 

Before  we  begin  to  build  the  great  structure  of  the 
Western  Branch,  let  us  for  a  moment  glance  back 
to  the  early  days  of  the  Company.  We  have  seen 
how,  in  the  very  beginning,  it  became  the  pioneer 
in  the  field  of  real  agency  work;  we  have  noted  the 
slow  planting  of  agencies  in  the  South  and  West  and 

[176] 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  WEST  ' 

North,  and  we  have  traced  the  development  of  the 
local  agency  in  Cincinnati  from  1823  to  the  middle  of 
the  century. 

During  all  these  years  the  ^Etna's  chief  competitor 
in  the  Western  field  was  the  Protection  Insurance 
Company,  organized  at  Hartford  in  1825.  It  was 
in  the  year  following  that  the  Protection  opened  a 
General  Agency  in  Cincinnati  under  Ephraim  Robins. 
In  the  story  of  his  career  may  be  read  one  of  the 
many  romances  of  American  business. 

At  the  age  of  forty,  Robins  had  won  success  and 
comparative  wealth  as  a  merchant  and  exporter  in 
Boston.  Two  years  later  a  calamity  of  navigation 
destroyed  his  entire  fortune.  Discouraged,  but 
undaunted,  he  turned  from  this  disaster  to  build  his 
life  anew.  His  attention  was  suddenly  caught  by  an 
item  in  a  Hartford  newspaper  which  a  relative  had 
sent  him,  telling  of  the  formation  there  of  the  Protec- 
tion—  a  new  fire  and  marine  insurance  company.  The 
recent  loss  of  his  own  fortune,  through  lack  of  insurance 
protection,  and  his  own  need  for  immediate  occupation, 
combined  to  inspire  a  new  idea.  He  felt  that  no  one 
could  more  fervently  preach  the  gospel  of  insurance 
than  he,  and  he  believed  that  his  experience  in  business 
and  knowledge  of  men  would  enable  him  to  win  success 
in  the  new  field  as  he  had  in  the  old. 

Within  a  few  months  General  Agent  Robins  was 
in  far-away  Cincinnati,  laying  the  foundations  of  the 
great  agency  system  in  the  West  for  the  Hartford 
company.  During  the  next  twenty  years,  with  an 
organization    of    hundreds    of    agents    covering    the 

12  [177I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


villages  and  cities  of  the  South  and  West,  he  restored 
his  own  fortunes  and  brought  prosperity  to  the  com- 
pany at  home.  His  death  in  1846,  however,  seemed  to 
mark  a  turn  in  the  tide  of  the  company's  progress,  for  in 
August,  1854,  following  a  series  of  heavy  losses  at  sea 
and  on  land,  insolvency  brought  an  end  to  its  career. 
W.  B.  Robins,  who  succeeded  his  father  as  General 
Agent,  moved  to  England  soon  after  the  company 
failed,  and  with  his  entire  family,  met  a  tragic  end 
by  drowning  while  on  a  yachting  trip. 

It  was  under  Ephraim  Robins  that  Joseph  B. 
Bennett,  the  first  General  Agent  of  the  Etna's  Western 
Branch,  received  his  early  training.  Born  in  England 
August  II,  1825,  he  and  his  brother,  F.  C.  Bennett, 
came  to  America  in  1832  with  their  parents  and  settled 
in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  then  a  small  village  of  3,000 
inhabitants,  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Erie.  In  1834  the 
Bennett  family  moved  to  Cincinnati,  then  the  greatest 
city  in  the  West.  In  1841  young  Joseph  entered  the 
office  of  Ephraim  Robins.  Keen  of  mind,  quick  to 
learn  and  ambitious  to  succeed,  it  was  not  long  before 
he  had  mastered  every  detail  of  the  business.  His 
advancement  was  rapid.  Within  a  few  years  he  had 
become  one  of  the  trusted  investigators  and  loss 
adjusters  of  the  agency. 

In  the  summer  of  1852  the  iEtna  was  concerned  in 
a  loss  by  fire  which  destroyed  the  business  section 
of  Brandon,  Mississippi.  J.  B.  Bennett  was  on  the 
ground  to  adjust  losses  sustained  by  his  company. 
He  discovered  mistakes  in  one  of  the  claims  against 
the  iEtna  and  saved   the  Company  seventy-five  per 

[178I 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  WEST 


cent,  of  the  original  demand.     This  incident  led  to  a 

correspondence  which  resulted,  one  year  later,  in  the 

founding  of  the  Western   Branch  of  the  /Etna,  with 

Joseph  B.   Bennett  in  control  as  General  Agent,  and 

with  offices  in  a  little  cottage  at  what  then  was  297 

Elm  Street,  in  Cincinnati. 

That  Bennett  had  a  great  opportunity  before  him 

is  indicated  in  the  letter  written   to  him  by  Secretary 

Ripley  of  the  ^tna  on  October  4,  1853: 

You  are  now  in  a  position  to  build  up  a  reputation  and  a 
profitable  business  for  this  Company  and  yourself,  such  as  few  men 
have  the  opportunity  of  doing.  You  begin  with  a  good  business 
already  secured,  and  if  the  Company  has  its  deserts,  with  a  high 
reputation  for  fairness,  promptness  and  liberality,  there  is  no 
reason  why  your  efforts  should  not  be  crowned  with  success. 

With  characteristic  energy  Bennett  turned  to  his 
new  task.     Every  local  agency  which  had  been  estab- 
lished by  the  JEtna.  within  the  limits  of  his  territory, 
except  those  at  Chicago,  Cleveland  and  Mobile,  was 
placed  under  his  control,  so  he  was  able  to  begin  with 
a  ready-made  organization    of  no   mean   proportions. 
Within  a  year  great  good  fortune  came  to  him,  though 
it  spelled  calamity  and  ruin   to  others  —  the  failure 
of  the  Protection  Company.     He  was  quick  to  seize 
the  opportunity.     He  was  personally  acquainted  witli 
the    hundreds    of   Protection    agents    throughout    the 
South  and  W' est,  and  was  able  to  pick  and  choose  among 
i  them.     They  brought  with  them  to  Bennett  and  to 
I  the  ^tna  a  material  share  of  the  business  which  they 
ihad  developed  and  the  benefit  of  the  schooling  which 
I  they  had  received  under  Ephralm  and  W.  B.  Robins. 
It   was   not   long,    therefore,    before    Bennett   had   an 

[179] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

army  of  more  than  one  thousand  active  and  experienced 
agents  under  his  command,  and  he  soon  came  to  be 
known  among  them  as  "General."  Until  the  day  of  his 
death,  more  than  thirty  years  later,  he  was  known 
throughout  the  insurance  world  as  General  Bennett. 

An  avalanche  of  prosperity  now  descended  upon 
the  i^tna  as  the  result  of  the  sudden  activity  of  hun- 
dreds of  new  agents.  During  the  seventeen  years  of 
J.  B.  Bennett's  management  of  the  Western  Branch 
the  premiums  averaged  one  million  dollars  a  year. 

The   literature  of  American   fire   insurance   teems 

with  incidents  and  stories  of  Bennett's  career.     That 

he  was  a  genius  in  the  profession  of  fire  underwriting 

is   conceded  by   all;   but  like  most  geniuses,  he  was 

eccentric     and     intolerant     of    restraint.      With     the 

increasing  prosperity  of  the  Western  Branch,  he  soon 

came  to  regard    the  home  office  as    a  mere   adjunct. 

As  stated  in  the  Insurance  Report  in   1907,  by  Ross 

F.   Stewart,   an   old   insurance   underwriter  who   had 

served   under   General   Agent   Bennett   nearly   half  a 

century  before: 

Let  it  be  said  in  sorrow  that  it  was  through  this  very  spirit 
of  independence  that  the  meteoric  career  of  a  character  acknowl- 
edged by  all  to  have  been  one  of  the  greatest,  if  not  the  greatest, 
fire  underwriting  has  ever  known,  came  to  an  inglorious  ending. 
Not  content  with  the  renown  which  he  and  his  Company  had 
achieved  as  the  chief  pioneers  and  veterans  of  the  agency  system, 
Mr.  Bennett  sought  to  develop  the  Cincinnati  Branch  on  Hnes 
wholly  apart  from  those  established  as  fundamental  principles 
by  the  home  office  in  Hartford. 

Having  nothing  to  risk  but  his  position.  General 
Agent  Bennett  was  unhampered  by  responsibilities  and  i 
obligations   which   statute   and   unwritten   law  placed 

[180] 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  WEST 


upon  the  shoulders  of  the  Officers  and  Directors  back 
in  Hartford.  While  they  recognized  the  genius  and 
talents  of  their  Cincinnati  agent,  they  likewise  feared 
his  impulses  and  eccentricities.  Many  are  the 
incidents  recorded  in  the  old  correspondence  between 
the  home  office  and  the  Western  Branch  which  describe 
this  situation.  One,  for  example,  occurred  in  1864, 
following  a  fire  which  destroyed  Colt's  great  pistol 
factory  at  Hartford.  Some  weeks  later,  in  looking  over 
Bennett's  reports  for  the  preceding  month,  the  home 
office  found  a  receipted  bill  for  ^4,000,  for  a  colored 
poster  of  Colt's  fire.  Inquiry  developed  that  Bennett, 
without  seeking  authority  for  what,  in  those  days,  was 
regarded  as  a  stupendous  expenditure  for  such  purpose, 
had  ordered  the  poster  for  advertising  purposes  and 
had  paid  the  bill  out  of  the  Company's  funds. 

This  action  was  followed  by  other  infractions  of  the 
rule  that  Company  funds  should  be  expended  only 
with  the  sanction  of  the  Officers  and  Directors.  When 
he  began,  however,  to  assume  the  authority  of  investing 
the  funds  of  the  Western  Branch,  and  even  went  so  far 
as  to  make  preliminary  arrangements  for  the  expendi- 
ture of  many  thousands  of  dollars  for  the  erection 
of  an  office  building  for  the  Company  in  Cincinnati, 
without  consultation  with  the  home  office,  the  Officers 
and  Directors  felt  that  the  time  had  come  for  a  final 
understanding.  Therefore,  in  the  late  winter  of  1870 
President  Hendee,  accompanied  by  a  committee  ot  three 
Directors,  visited  Cincinnati,  where  a  final  shock 
awaited  them.  They  entered  the  .Etna's  offices  in 
the  Company's  building  at  No.  171  Vine  Street,  where 

[181I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

they  found  the  "General"  seated  at  his  desk.  He  slowly 
surveyed  his  visitors,  making  no  motion  to  greet 
them,  then  turned  his  back  with  the  curt  remark: 

"Be  seated,  gentlemen.  I'll  see  you  when  I  am 
through." 

This  was  the  final  straw.  Bennett's  commission 
was  revoked,  and  his  brother,  Frederick  C.  Bennett, 
was  named  General  Agent  in  his  place. 

With  his  retirement  from  the  iEtna,  J.  B.  Bennett 
immediately  took  steps  to  erect  a  competing  organiza- 
tion. Before  the  end  of  the  year  he  had  launched  the 
Andes  Insurance  Company  with  a  capital  of  ^1,000,000. 
He  gave  it  a  name  as  nearly  like  that  of  the  JEtna, 
as  he  could,  and  adopted  a  seal  similar  to  that  of  the 
iEtna,  with  a  mountain  as  its  most  characteristic 
feature.  The  Chicago  fire  in  1871  ended  its  brief 
career.  Bennett  later  organized  two  more  companies  — 
the  Amazon  and  the  Triumph.  He  died  at  Indianapolis 
on  November  10,  1889,  and  was  buried  in  Cincinnati, 
where  his  last  resting-place  is  now  marked  by  a 
monument  erected  to  his  memory  by  the  insurance 
men  of  the  United  States. 

Frederick  C.  Bennett  in  many  respects  was  the 
antithesis  of  his  gifted  and  eccentric  brother.  Although 
an  able  executive,  he  was  modest  and  shy  almost  to 
diffidence.  Like  his  brother,  he  received  his  early 
insurance  training  in  the  old  Protection  agency, 
entering  the  office  under  W.  B.  Robins  in  1847. 
Although  offered  a  post  in  the  new  i^tna  agency  in 
1853,  he  remained  with  the  Protection  up  to  the 
time  of  its  failure  in  1854,  when  he  entered  the  employ 

[182] 


WFmtt- 


OLD   CINCINNATI    OFFICK   BUILDING   OF  TIlK.i:'rN\    IXSlK'WCi:   COMPANY 

171  VINE  STREK'I 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  WEST 


of  his  brother,  where  he  continued  in  various  capacities 
until  March  9,  1870,  when  the  ^tna  Directors  elected 
him  General  Agent.  On  the  same  date  they  also 
elected  as  Assistant  General  Agent,  William  H.  Wyman, 
who  was  to  live  to  celebrate,  in  1904,  fifty  years  of 
continuous  service  with  the  Company. 

Mr.  Wyman  was  born  at  Canton,  New  York, 
July  21,  1831,  and  received  his  early  schooling  in  the 
Beloit  and  Milton  Academies.  At  the  age  of  nineteen 
he  entered  the  Cincinnati  office  of  the  Protection 
Company  as  a  junior  clerk.  He  remained  there 
until  the  failure  of  the  company  in  1854,  when,  with 
F.  C.  Bennett,  he  joined  the  ranks  of  the  /Etna,  under 
General  Agent  J.  B.  Bennett.  Wyman  spent  his  first 
year  with  the  Company  traveling  through  the  South 
and  West  as  Special  Agent,  and  in  1856  was  appointed 
State  Agent  for  the  ^tna  in  Wisconsin.  It  was  while 
serving  in  this  capacity  that  he  was  promoted  to  the 
position  of  Assistant  General  Agent  at  Cincinnati 
in  1870. 

During  the  years  which  followed,  the  Western 
Branch  of  the  i^tna  continued  to  expand  under  the 
guiding  hands  of  Bennett  and  Wyman,  until  1890. 
By  this  time  the  territory  covered  by  the  Western 
Branch  had  become  so  populous,  and  the  volume  of 
business  so  great,  that  it  was  decided  to  divide  the 
field.  On  September  24  of  this  year  the  Directors 
voted  to  divide  the  W'estern  Branch  and  establish  a 
new  branch,  to  be  known  as  the  Northwestern,  with 
headquarters  at  Omaha,  with  William  H.  Wyman 
as    General    Agent.      The    territory    allotted    to    the 

[183I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


new  department  was  composed  of  North  and  South 
Dakota,  Minnesota,  Iowa,  Nebraska,  Wyoming, 
Colorado,  Kansas,  Missouri,  New  Mexico  and  Indian 
Territory;  while  the  States  remaining  in  the  Western 
Branch  were  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio,  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee,  Arkansas,  Louisiana  and  Texas. 
The  Chicago  office  was  still  operating  as  an  independent 
branch. 

With  the  establishment  of  the  Northwestern  Branch, 
Charles  W.  Potter,  another  ^Etna  veteran,  was  elected 
as  Assistant  General  Agent  to  serve  with  Wyman 
at  Omaha.  He  had  entered  the  service  of  the  JEtna. 
in  1867  under  J.  B.  Bennett,  and  during  the  intervening 
years  had  served  as  local  agent  at  Milwaukee  and 
State  Agent  for  Wisconsin.  He  continued  as  Assistant 
General  Agent  only  two  years,  however,  when  he 
resigned  to  accept  the  management,  at  Denver,  of 
the  Mountain  Division  of  the  Northwestern  Depart- 
ment, where  he  continued  until  his  death  in  191 8. 
W.  P.  Harford,  who  had  been  identified  with  the 
Western  Branch  for  many  years,  was  chosen  for 
the  vacancy  caused  by  Potter's  resignation,  and  served 
as  Assistant  General  Agent  under  Wyman  until  their 
joint  retirement  in  1910,  to  which  further  reference 
will  be  made. 

Frederick  C.  Bennett  continued  in  sole  charge  of 
the  Western  Branch  during  the  two  years  following 
the  transfer  and  promotion  of  William  H.  Wyman. 
On  November  30,  1892,  the  day  on  which  William 
B.  Clark  was  elevated  to  the  Presidency  of  the 
Company,  and  upon  his  recommendation,  N.  E.  Keeler, 

[184] 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  WEST 


who  had  been  connected  with  the  Western  Branch 
since  boyhood,  was  elected  Assistant  General  Agent 
at  Cincinnati,  to  succeed  Wyman. 

After  fifty  years  of  continuous  service  in  the  ranks 
of  insurance  underwriting,  of  which  forty-three  were 
spent  with  the  ^tna,  death  closed  the  long  career  of 
F.  C.  Bennett  on  May  25,  1897.  No  truthful  history 
of  American  fire  insurance  could  be  written  that  did 
not  write  large  the  names  of  the  two  Bennett  brothers. 
Both,  in  their  day,  wrought  mightily  for  the  cause  of 
insurance  in  general  and  for  the  JEtns.  in  particular. 
F.  C.  Bennett  was  one  of  the  founders  and  first  president 
of  the  old  Western  Fire  Insurance  Managers'  Associa- 
tion, from  which  was  evolved  the  present  Western 
Union,  the  great  organization  of  fire  insurance  under- 
writers of  the  West. 

With  the  termination  of  Bennett's  long  leadership 
of  the  W^estern  Branch,  there  was  now  to  appear,  in 
the  person  of  Thomas  E.  Gallagher,  a  new  figure  in  the 
Western  field  of  fire  insurance.  Born  at  Dansville, 
New  York,  on  July  31,  1848,  Gallagher  first  entered 
the  insurance  business  as  a  local  agent  at  Elmira. 
In  1886  he  became  Special  Agent  for  the  Washington 
Fire  and  Marine  Insurance  Company.  In  1888  he 
was  appointed  Special  Agent  in  New  York  State 
for  the  Continental  Fire  Insurance  Company,  and 
later  General  Agent,  until  in  1894  he  joined  the  ranks 
of  the  iEtna  as  Special  Agent  in  the  same  state. 

In  accordance  with  a  plan  formulated  by  President 
Clark,  N.  E.  Keeler,  Assistant  General  Agent  of  the 
Western   Branch,  and  Thomas  E.   Gallagher,  became 

[185I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

associated  under  the  firm  name  of  Keeler  &  Gallagher; 
and  on  June  2,  1897,  the  members  of  this  firm  were 
named  joint  General  Agents  to  succeed  F.  C.  Bennett. 
This  arrangement  continued  until  October,  1907, 
when  Keeler,  after  forty-two  years  of  continuous 
service  with  the  ^Etna,  resigned,  to  take  effect  at 
the  end  of  the  year.  He  was  given  a  pension  for  the 
remaining  years  of  his  life.  His  death  occurred  on 
June  10,  1912. 

For  some  years  prior  to  this  period  the  ^tna 
officials  had  considered  plans  for  a  complete  reorganiza- 
tion of  its  Western  business.  Cincinnati  had  long  since 
surrendered  to  Chicago  its  prestige  as  the  metropolis 
of  the  West.  And  so,  with  the  retirement  of  Mr. 
Keeler,  the  following  announcement  was  issued  by 
President  Clark  on  November  12,  1907,  to  the  Western 
agents  of  the  Company: 

After  a  long  and  careful  consideration  of  the  subject,  we 
have  decided  to  remove  the  Western  Branch  from  Cincinnati  to 
Chicago,  and  now  expect  to  be  located  in  offices  in  the  National 
Life  Insurance  Company's  building,  159  La  Salle  Street,  in  May- 
next. 

In  due  time  the  Chicago  City  and  Cook  County  Agencies 
will  report  to  the  Western  Branch  instead  of  as  now  to  the  Home 
Office  at  Hartford,  thus  consolidating  our  entire  interests  in  the 
Middle  West. 

The  Branch  at  Chicago  will  be  under  the  management  of 
General  Agent  Thos.  E.  Gallagher,  and  Mr.  Jas.  S.  Gadsden  will 
continue  as  General  Agent  of  the  Inland  Marine  department. 

Mr.  Louis  O.  Kohtz,  our  present  Assistant  General  Agent  at 
Chicago,  will  continue  as  Assistant  General  Agent  in  both  Fire 
and  Marine  Departments. 

The  foregoing  announcement  was  only  the  fore- 
runner of  another  important  change  a  few  years  later; 
for  on  October  5,  1910,  President  Clark  issued  a  notice 

[186] 


LOUIS   O.  KOHTZ 
ASS'T  GENERAL  AGENT 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  WFS'I 


to  the  agents  announcing  the  decision  of  the  Company 
to  consolidate  the  Western  and  Northwestern  Branches 
with  headquarters  at  Chicago,  under  the  management 
of  General  Agent  Gallagher  and  Assistant  (General 
Agent  Louis  O.  Kghtz.  The  new  arrangement  was  to 
become  effective  on  December  ist.  In  his  announce- 
ment President  Clark  paid  a  glowing  tribute  to  the  long 
and  faithful  services  of  General  Agent  William  H. 
Wyman  and  Assistant  General  Agent  W.  P.  Harford, 
the  former  having  served  the  ^tna  for  fifty-six  years, 
and  the  latter  forty-five.  In  recognition  of  these 
services  they  were  granted  generous  pensions  on  their 
retirement.  Mr.  Wyman's  death  occurred  on  October 
7th  of  the  following  year,  while  Mr.  Harford  died  on 
October  25,  1910. 

These  events  marked  the  close  of  a  memorable 
era  in  the  life  of  the  Western  Branch  and  the  beginning 
of  a  new  period  of  growth  and  prosperity.  In  191 5, 
as  noted  in  the  preceding  chapter,  Assistant  Secretary 
Ralph  B.  Ives  was  transferred  from  the  home  office 
to  Chicago,  and  the  team  work  with  General  Agent 
Gallagher  and  Assistant  General  Agent  Kohtz  has 
produced  gratifying  results.  Just  as  the  story  of  the 
iEtna  as  a  whole  encompasses  much  of  the  history 
of  lire  insurance  in  America  during  the  last  hundred 
years,  so  the  various  steps  in  the  progress  ot  the 
Company's  Western  Branch  have  been  coincident 
with  the  important  developments  of  underwriting 
throughout  the  West  since  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

[187I 


Chapter  XIII 

THE  PACIFIC  BRANCH 

IN  the  fifties,  California  seemed  a  long,  long  way 
from  Hartford;  there  were  no  railways  reaching 
to  what  President  Ripley  called  "the  remote 
Pacific  shores,"  no  telegraph  service,  and  no  method  of 
communication,  except  by  mail,  which  was  slow  and 
expensive.  California  had  hardly  been  acquired  by 
the  United  States  as  a  territory  when  the  news  of 
the  discovery  of  gold  at  Coloma,  on  the  Sacramento 
River,  thrilled  the  country. 

Almost  as  if  by  magic  was  the  sleepy  little  Spanish 
village  of  San  Francisco  transformed  into  a  live, 
hustling,  American  town.  There  was  a  feverish  rush 
of  gold-seekers  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  Thousands 
tracked  across  the  plains  and  mountains,  with  ox-teams 
and  prairie-schooners;  many  came  on  horseback  or 
trudged  wearily  along  on  foot.  Many  others  swarmed 
across  the  Isthmus,  and  in  a  single  year  five  hundred 
ships,  filled  with  adventurous  miners,  came  'round 
the  Horn  to  reach  the  new  El  Dorado.  In  1850 
California  became  a  State,  and  two  years  later  San 
Francisco  was  a  city  of  42,000  inhabitants.  Such  an 
influx  of  new  settlers  meant  the  erection  of  thousands 

[188] 


THE  PACIFIC  BRANCH 


of  new  buildings,  and  with  this  naturally  came  a  demand 
for  fire  insurance. 

For  several  years  prior  to  1858  the  ^tna  had  been 
urged  to  establish  an  agency  in  San  Francisco,  but  the 
difficulties  and  disadvantages  seemed  so  great  that  no 
action  was  taken  until  December  8,  1858,  when  Edward 
H.  Parker  was  made  local  agent  there.  Mr.  Parker 
was  so  highly  recommended,  and  the  distance  from  the 
home  office  being  too  great  for  advice  and  authority 
in  every  instance,  that  with  a  few  general  suggestions 
and  limitations,  he  was  urged  to  conduct  the  business 
there  as  though  it  were  his  own. 

This  arrangement  was  unchanged  until  1866, 
when  on  August  15th  the  Board  of  Directors  voted  to 
send  General  Agent  Erastus  J.  Bassett  to  California, 
with  full  power  to  look  over  the  business  of  the  Com- 
pany, and  to  arrange  for  extending  its  operations  by 
opening  a  general  agency  or  to  close  up  the  local  agency 
and  withdraw  from  the  field,  as  his  judgment  might 
dictate.  On  reaching  the  Coast  and  after  studying  the 
situation  from  all  sides,  he  advised  the  establishment 
of  a  branch  office  in  San  Francisco,  which  resulted  in 
the  appointment  in  December,  1866,  ot  Robert  11. 
Magill  as  General  Agent. 

Mr.  Magill  came  from  Cincinnati,  where  he  had  been 
a  member  of  the  firm  of  R.  H.  &  H.  M.  Magill, 
general  agents  of  the  Western  Branch  of  the  Phoenix 
of  Hartford.  The  Pacific  Branch  of  the  iEtna,  thus 
begun  under  Magill,  covered  California,  Arizona, 
Idaho,  Montana,  Nevada,  Oregon,  Utah,. and  Wash- 
ington.     He    continued  in  charge  for  two  years  until 


[189] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

October,   1868,  when  George  C.  Boardman  succeeded 

him. 

Mr.  Boardman  was  born  in  Hartford,  Connecticut, 
on  May  20,  1828,  of  English  stock  that  settled  in  this 
country  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
He  received  his  early  education  in  the  schools  of  his 
native  city  and  entered  upon  a  mercantile  life  in 
Hartford  and  later  in  New  York  City.  In  1855  he 
began  his  insurance  career  as  special  agent  for  the 
Merchants'  Insurance  Company  of  Hartford,  and  in 
i860  was  sent  to  Cahfornia.  In  the  year  following  he 
became  secretary  of  the  San  Francisco  Insurance 
Company,  which  had  just  been  organized,  and  in 
1863  he  became  president.  Under  his  administration 
the  company  had  remarkable  success,  but  shortly  after 
his  resignation  in  October,  1868,  to  become  General 
Agent  for  the  i:Etna,  the  San  Francisco  company 
retired  from  business.  Mr.  Boardman  was  a  sound, 
conservative,  and  experienced  underwriter,  the  first 
Special  Agent  of  an  Eastern  company  to  visit  the 
Pacific  Coast,  planned  and  promoted  the  first  Board 
of  Fire  Underwriters  there,  and  had  a  part  in  every 
development  of  fire  insurance  on  the  Coast. 

Under  Mr.  Boardman's  able  and  aggressive 
management  the  y^tna's  Pacific  Branch  prospered. 
The  receipts  for  the  first  year  were  $70,000,  and  in 
his  last  year  with  the  Company  the  premium  income 
of  the  Branch  had  reached  nearly  $1,100,000;  every 
year,  except  1906,  the  year  of  the  San  Francisco  fire, 
the  business  yielded  handsome  profits.  When  Mr. 
Boardman  had  been  twenty-eight  years  in  charge  alone, 

[190] 


GEORGE  W.SPENCER 

SAN      FRANCISCO 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  FIRM  OF 
BOARDMAN  &  SPENCER.  CENERAL  AGENTS.  PAClKIl'  BRANCH,  AT  TIME 
THE  CONFLAC.RATION  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO.    M'KII.    l'x»<. 


oi- 


THE  PACIFIC  BRANCH 


the  business  had  so  increased  and  the  duties  of  the 
agency  had  proved  so  onerous,  that  in  1896  he  took  in 
as  partner  George  W.  Spencer,  and  the  firm  became 
Boardman  &  Spencer,  General  Agents. 

Mr.  Spencer  was  born  in  Philadelphia  on  September 
17,  1843,  and  his  early  youth  was  spent  at  New  London, 
Connecticut,  where  he  received  his  education.  When 
he  was  sixteen  he  returned  to  Philadelphia  and  engaged 
in  business,  where  he  remained  until  1862,  when  he 
entered  the  army,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  went 
to  New  York  as  an  accountant.  In  1868  he  took  a 
long  trip  to  Tahiti  to  enter  into  a  partnership  there; 
but  conditions  not  seeming  favorable,  he  went  to 
San  Francisco  and  began  his  insurance  career  as 
accountant  and  Special  Agent  of  the  ^tna  under 
Mr.  Boardman.  After  serving  in  this  capacity  for 
eleven  years,  he  left  in  1880  to  accept  the  position 
of  manager  of  the  Marine  Department  of  Balfour, 
jGuthrie  &  Company,  but  resigned  in  1896  to  return  to 
the  i^tna  as  an  associate  of  General  Agent  Boardman. 
I  When  Rudyard  Kipling  visited  San  Francisco, 
Mr.  Spencer  entertained  him  at  his  home,  and  when 
the  distinguished  author  left  he  had  such  vivid 
memories  of  his  host  that  he  wrote  "The  Prince  Among 
Merchants,"  based  on  the  experiences  of  Spencer; 
in  his  "American  Notes"  Kipling  also  pictures  him 
as  the  "Captain  of  American  Horse,"  representing  an 
old  soldier  of  the  Civil  War.  On  April  2,  1908,  Mr. 
Spencer  died  suddenly,  and  the  Company  lost  an  able 
|Underwriter  and  a  loyal  and  valued  agent. 

On  May   10,   1908,  Edwin  C.  Morrison,  who  had 

[191] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

been  connected  with  the  Company  for  about  twenty- 
two  years  as  special  agent,  became  Assistant  General 
Agent.  In  the  year  following,  the  death  of  Mr. 
Boardman  brought  a  new  change  in  the  election  of 
Morrison  to  the  position  of  General  Agent.  Mr. 
Boardman,  who  died  on  April  24,  1909,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-one,  had  served  the  JEtuB.  with  rare  ability 
and  devotion  for  forty-one  years,  his  entire  period 
of  service  being  with  the  Pacific  Branch.  His  death 
brought  sincere  sorrow  not  only  to  the  officers  of  the 
^tna  but  to  the  insurance  circles  of  the  Pacific  Coast. 

On  July  12,  1909,  Arthur  G.  Sanderson  was  elected 
Assistant  General  Agent.  He  had  long  been  connected 
with  the  i^tna's  Western  Branch;  and  when  sent  to 
San  Francisco  in  1906,  as  one  of  the  adjusters  of  the 
losses  incident  to  the  great  fire,  he  had  rendered  such 
valued  service  and  had  won  such  personal  popularity 
that  his  election  again  proved  the  care  and  wisdom 
of  the  Company  in  the  selection  of  its  agents. 

While  the  business  of  the  Pacific  Branch  all  these 
years  had  been  growing  in  strength  and  prosperity, 
invisible  lines  of  control  and  guidance  stretched  across 
three  thousand  miles  to  the  home  office  in  Hartford 
into  firm,  sure  hands.  From  almost  the  very  beginning  i 
of  its  existence  the  affairs  of  this  Branch  had  been 
under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Clark,  first  as  Assistant 
Secretary  and  later  as  Vice-President  and  President. 
It  was  in  1866  that  the  Branch  was  opened,  and  it  hadj 
hardly  completed  its  first  year  when  Mr.  Clark  came 
with  the  Company,  so  that  the  history  of  the  Pacific 
Branch  and  President  Clark's  life  with  the  JEtna.  are 

[192] 


THE  PACIFIC  BRANCH 


contemporaneous,  and  their  stories  are  constantly 
interwoven.  He  has  ever  been  in  perfect  touch  with 
all  of  its  activities,  and  knows  San  Francisco  from  an 
underwriter's  point  of  view  as  thoroughly  as  though 
he  were  on  the  ground.  He  has  made  every  audit 
of  the  accounts  of  the  Branch  except  in  one  year, 
when  Vice-President  Rees  visited  the  Coast. 

In  1874  President  Clark,  then  Assistant  Secretary, 
made  his  first  visit  to  San  Francisco,  and  the  story 
is  best  given  in  his  own  words: 

In  April,  1874,  Mr.  Boardman  having  had  some  difficulty  with 
one  of  his  employees,  President  Hendee  said  to  me:  "It  is  about 
time  that  somebody  from  this  office  visited  the  Pacific  Branch, 
and  I  advise  that  you  pack  your  trunk  and  go  at  once;"  so  on 
the  thirteenth  day  of  April  I  left  Hartford  for  San  Francisco. 
Only  one  railroad  was  in  operation  at  that  time  —  the  Union 
Pacific  —  and  it  was  a  seven  days'  trip,  with  rather  crude  sleepers 
and  getting  meals  at  stations  en  route.  I  well  remember,  on 
the  morning  of  my  arrival  on  the  Coast,  of  leaving  the  train  and 
going  through  an  arch  of  ice  and  snow  to  the  restaurant,  and  at 
twelve  o'clock  on  the  same  day  in  the  Sacramento  Valley,  picking 
poppies  by  the  roadside. 

It  was  a  surprise  visit  to  Mr.  Boardman,  our  General  Agent, 
and  I  had  intended  to  reach  his  office  the  next  morning  before 
him.  I  arrived  in  the  city  at  ten  o'clock  at  night,  but  omitted  to 
"leave  a  call,"  and  when  I  awoke  the  next  morning  the  sun  was 
shining  bright  in  my  room.  I  looked  at  my  watch  and  saw  that 
it  was  ten  o'clock.  I  jumped  out  of  bed  and  proceeded  to  dress 
hurriedly.  All  at  once  I  heard  the  whistles  blowing,  and  on 
looking  out  of  the  window,  saw  workmen  going  by  with  their 
dinner  pails.  Then  it  occurred  to  me  that  there  was  a  difference 
of  three  hours  and  twenty  minutes  between  their  time  and  my 
Hartford  time.  So  I  reached  the  office  in  good  time  that  morning 
and  surprised  Mr.  Boardman,  and  received  a  very  warm  welcome 
from  him.  This  visit  was  followed  by  eleven  visits  to  the  Branch, 
namely,  in  1890,  1896,  1899,  1903,  1906,  1909,  191 1,  1913,  1914, 
1916,  1918,  and  1919. 

On  President  Clark's  return  from  his  sixth  visit  to 
the  Coast  in  March,  1906,  he  had  reached  Hartford  on 

13  [^93] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


the  first  of  April.  A  little  over  two  weeks  later  — 
April  1 8  th  —  came  the  terrible  news  of  the  earth- 
quake and  the  great  fire.  On  two  or  three  previous 
visits  to  San  Francisco  Mr.  Clark  had  made  a  careful 
study  of  the  Company's  local  business,  visiting  each 
section,  street  by  street,  going  over  the  maps  with 
the  General  Agent,  and  fixing  the  maximum  lines, 
particularly  in  the  congested  districts.  It  was  this 
close  knowledge  that  enabled  President  Clark,  seated 
in  Hartford,  and  studying  the  reports  from  the  stricken 
city,  to  advise  the  Board  that  the  net  loss  of  the 
Company,  after  deducting  re-insurance  and  salvage, 
would  be  about  three  million  dollars.  This  was  a 
remarkably  close  estimate,  for  the  amount  actually 
paid  was  ^2,983,000. 

While  the  story  of  the  great  fire  has  been  given 
in  detail  in  another  chapter,  it  may  be  worth  noting, 
as  illustrating  the  generous  spirit  of  the  Company, 
the  public  announcement  which  was  made  at  the 
time  by  Boardman  &  Spencer,  General  Agents.  The 
policy-holders  were  notified  that  the  vaults  of  the 
Compiany  had  just  been  opened  and  the  records  were 
found  uninjured,  and  that  the  adjustment  and  payment 
of  losses  would  proceed  at  once.  Requirement  of 
giving  "immediate  notice"  of  losses  was  waived;  time 
for  filing  proofs  of  loss  was  extended;  loss  papers 
would  be  prepared  by  the  adjusters  without  expense 
to  the  assured,  and  no  attorney  would  be  necessary; 
if  policies  had  been  burned  the  assured  would  suffer 
no  delay,  and  all  policies  would  be  paid  in  cash, 
without  discount,  immediately  on  adjustment. 

[194] 


THE  PACIFIC  BRANCH 


In  the  years  following  the  fire  the  Pacific  Branch 
speedily  regained  strength  and  vitality  and  continued 
to  prosper.  On  December  2,  191 2,  General  Agent 
Morrison  died,  at  the  age  of  sixty-two.  He  had  been 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  the  service  of  the  Company 
as  special  agent,  superintendent  of  agencies,  Assistant 
General  Agent  and  General  Agent,  and  had  been  most 
successful  in  the  management  of  the  Pacific  Branch. 
Assistant  General  Agent  Sanderson  was  elected  as 
his  successor  on  January  i,  1913. 

On   President   Clark's  visit   to   the   Coast  early  in 

1913    he   found    Mr.    Sanderson    dangerously    ill,    and 

it   was   decided   to   appoint   William   H.    Breeding   as 

Assistant  General  Agent.     Mr.  Clark  telegraphed  the 

facts  to  the  Company  on  March  8th,  and  on   March 

loth    Mr.    Breeding   was    elected    by    the    Board    as 

Assistant.     Between   the   time  of  the  sending  of  the 

i  telegram  and  the  action  of  the  Board,  however,  Mr. 

i  Sanderson    died    suddenly.      On    Mr.    Clark's    return 

'  to  Hartford  Mr.  Breeding  was  promoted  to  the  position 

of  General  Agent. 

I        Born  in  Texas  on  March  ao,    1871,  Mr.  Breeding 
I  received   his  education   in   the   public   schools   of  the 
State   and   acquired    his   early    insurance    training   in 
local  and  general  agencies  in  Texas.    He  was  account- 
ant and  later  special  agent  of  the  Alamo   Insurance 
Company  of  San  Antonio,  and  then  Texas  agent  for 
I  the  Germania  Fire  Insurance  Company  of  New  York; 
1  later   he    traveled   for   that   company   throughout   the 
I  Southern  field,  and  in  1900  was  appointed  Manager  of 
itheir  Pacific   Coast  department,  which  he  established. 

[195] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

In  1907  he  came  with  the  ^Etna,  serving  for  six  years 
as  special  agent  and  as  Superintendent  of  Agencies, 
prior  to  his  election  as  General  Agent  of  the  Company^ 
which  position  he  still  holds. 

Mr.  Breeding  proved  himself  a  most  successful  and 
satisfying  manager  of  the  Pacific  Branch,  and  for  the 
year  191 8  the  premiums  from  fire  underwriting  alone 
exceeded  two  million  dollars.  An  Assistant  General 
Agent,  George  E.  Townsend,  was  elected  in  March, 
191 5,  to  relieve  Mr.  Breeding  of  some  of  the  arduous 
duties  of  the  Branch.  For  several  years  Mr.  Townsend 
had  been  special  agent  and  agency  superintendent, 
and  remained  in  his  new  position  until  October,  191 8, 
when  he  resigned. 

While  the  entire  marine  business  of  the  Company 
is  under  the  immediate  charge  of  its  Marine  Vice- 
President,  William  F.  Whittelsey,  at  the  Home  Office; 
on  the  Pacific  Coast,  General  Agent  Breeding  has 
supervision  of  the  marine  risks  in  his  territory.  The 
details  of  the  work,  however,  are  in  the  hands  of 
a  marine  Assistant  General  iVgent.  From  April  2, 
1913,  Ernest  L.  Livingston  held  this  position  until 
his  death  on  March  6,  191 8,  when  he  was  succeeded 
by  the  present  incumbent,  Harry  Durbrow,  who  was 
chosen  on  May  13,  1918.  Both  proved  exceptionally 
competent  marine  underwriters,  and  the  premiums 
in  1 91 8  amounted  to  over  a  million  and  a  quarter  of 
dollars,  with  a  moderate  profit,  considering  the  war 
hazards. 

The  present  territory  of  the  Pacific  Branch  covers 
California,  Nevada,  Oregon,   Idaho,   Montana,   Utah, 

[196] 


W.    H.    BREEDING 
general   agent 
Pacific  branch 

san  francisco,  calif. 


^ 


^ 


THE  PACIFIC  BRANCH 


Washington,  Arizona,  Alaska,  and  the  Hawaiian 
Islands.  The  history  of  this  Branch  extends  over 
more  than  half  the  entire  life  of  the  y^tna.  It  seemed 
rather  a  bold  move  to  establish  a  general  agency 
away  out  on  the  Pacific  Coast  in  1866,  when  what  are 
now  flourishing  States  within  its  field  were  but  mere 
territories,  so  sparsely  settled  that  they  were  really 
little  more  than  names  and  a  boundary  line.  But  the 
Directors  never  made  any  important  move  without 
studying  the  subject  so  thoroughly  that  success  was 
assured.  They  elected  good  men  as  General  Agents, 
men  that  had  proved  themselves  of  special  fitness, 
and  these  men  when  chosen  were  given  the  largest 
possible  freedom  of  discretion  and  the  fullest  sympa- 
thetic co-operation  of  the  Home  Office  at  Hartford. 

The  story  of  the  Pacific  Branch  makes  a  bright 
and  memorable  chapter  in  the  life  of  the  Company 
and  in  the  administration  of  President  Clark,  who, 
in  the  Etna's  centennial  year,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
eight,  made  his  latest  trip  to  the  Coast  to  inspect  the 
affairs  of  the  Branch.  Under  his  fostering  care  it 
has  developed  to  its  present  success  and  importance. 


[197I 


Chapter  XIV 

THE  LAW  MAKERS  AND  INSURANCE 

IT  Is  a  comparatively  simple  and  easy  matter  for  a 
company  confining  its  business  within  the  borders 
of  its  own  State  to  carry  on  all  its  activities. 
When  it  crosses  the  State  line  it  enters  a  new  jurisdic- 
tion and  is  subject  to  different  laws.  If  the  company 
seeks  to  do  a  national  business,  with  branches,  offices 
or  agents  in  all  the  States,  it  has  to  face  the  somewhat 
puzzling  problem  of  adjusting  Itself  to  laws  and 
regulations  of  forty-eight  separate  commonwealths. 

The  iEtna  had  not  been  long  in  existence,  with  its 
plan  of  business  development  by  means  of  local  agency 
representation,  before  it  began  to  feel  the  pressure  and 
limitation  of  adverse  legislation.  It  had  early  ventured 
into  New  York  State  and  established  agencies;  but  in 
1823,  when  the  State  passed  a  law  taxing  the  business 
of  the  agents  of  out-of-State  fire  Insurance  companies 
ten  per  cent.,  profitable  underwriting  became  difficult. 
In  1825  the  iEtna  asked  Its  agents  at  Troy  and  Albany 
to  petition  the  Legislature  to  repeal  or  modify  this 
obnoxious  tax;  but  nothing  came  of  this  until  after  the 
great  fire  of  1835  in  New  York  City,  which  wiped  out 
so  many  local  companies,  and  made  foreign  concerns 

[198] 


THE  LAW  MAKERS  AND  INSURANCE 


necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  people,  when  the 
tax  was  reduced  to  two  per  cent. 

Massachusetts  proved  a  troublesome  factor  to  the 
iEtna  when  the  Legislature  in  1827  passed  a  law  relating 
to  foreign  fire  insurance  companies,  and  providing  for 
a  fine  of  $500  on  any  agent  writing  a  policy  in  any 
company  having  a  paid-up  capital  of  less  than  $200,000. 
As  the  iEtna  did  not  reach  this  amount  until  the  late 
forties,  the  Company  was  barred. 

A  loophole  was  discovered  In  the  Massachusetts 
situation  in  the  early  forties,  when  the  scheme  of 
"agent  for  the  people"  was  Introduced.  As  the  plan 
was  neatly  expressed  by  Secretary  Loomis,  in  a  letter 
of  November  18,  1843,  to  J.  N.  Stoddard,  an  agent 
for  the  people  at  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  which  read: 

Although  we  cannot  make  you  an  agent,  you  have  the  right 
to  offer  your  services  to  your  fellow  citizens  as  an  "insurance 
broker."     You  can  become  their  agent   for  procuring  insurance. 

This  plan  did  not  escape  the  keen  vision  of  the 
Legislature,  assisted  by  the  jealousy  of  local  companies, 
for  In  1847  a  law  was  passed  making  the  $500  fine 
applicable  to  any  person  who  directly  or  Indirectly 
represented  foreign  Insurance  companies.  Meanwhile, 
in  1846,  after  the  y^tna  had  attained  a  paid-up  capital 
of  |2oo,ooo,  It  re-entered  Massachusetts,  and  In  1852 
filed  Its  first  report  under  the  laws  of  the  State. 

Had  It  been  In  but  two  or  three  States  that  pressure 
was  brought  to  bear  to  keep  out  foreign  companies, 
the  situation  would  have  been  fairly  easy.  But  the 
truth  Is  that  most  local  companies  felt  that  foreign 
corporations  entering  their  territory  were  Interlopers, 

[199] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


and  in  the  early  days  they  used  every  form  of  tactics 
they  could  devise  to  keep  ''foreigners"  out.  That 
this  was  a  serious  problem  to  the  ^tna  is  manifest 
in  a  letter  written  in  May,  1829,  by  Secretary  Goodwin: 

Our  doing  business  in  other  States  where  they  have  insurance 
companies  has  caused  some  heart-burning  with  stockholders 
and  agents  of  local  offices.  The  Legislatures  in  most  of  the 
States  have  been  induced  to  pass  laws  intended  to  drive  out 
agents  of  foreign  offices,  considering  it  an  encroachment  upon 
them.  Where  law  has  not  had  the_  desired  effect,  slander  has 
been  resorted  to,  and  it  has  been  maliciously  reported  of  us  that 
we  were  insolvent. 

Sometimes  this  spirit  of  antagonism  to  foreign 
corporations  had  its  good  side,  as  events  turned  out; 
for  in  1835  the  ^Etna  was  probably  saved  from  losses 
that  might  have  proved  disastrous  in  the  big  fires 
in  New  York  City  and  Pittsburgh  by  reason  of  the 
laws  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  having  reduced 
the  activities  of  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company  to  a 
minimum  in  these  two  States. 

Out  in  Ohio  where  the  Company  was  vigorously 
extending  its  agency  business,  it  met  a  setback  in  1830 
when  the  Legislature  passed  a  law  requiring  foreign 
agents  to  pay  a  license  fee  of  ^50,  and  in  addition 
four  per  cent,  on  premiums.  The  Company  then 
promptly  decided  to  discontinue  its  agencies  at  Chilli- 
cothe,  Painesville,  Cleveland,  Ashtabula,  Zanesville, 
and  other  places,  retaining  only  its  agency  at 
Cincinnati.  In  the  year  following,  the  Legislature 
having  repealed  the  $50  tax  law  and  substituted  a 
reasonable  tax  on  premiums,  the  /Etna,  reopened  its 
agencies  and  resumed  business. 

[  200] 


THE  LAW  MAKERS  AND  INSURANCE 


At  this  time  agents  of  foreign  companies  in  Vermont 
were  taxed  eight  per  cent,  on  receipts;  in  New  York 
ten  per  cent.;  in  New  Jersey  eight  per  cent.;  in  Penn- 
sylvania twenty;  in  South  Carolina  eight;  in  Ohio 
four,  in  addition  to  the  ^50  license  fee;  and  in  Rhode 
Island  the  license  fee  was  $200.  Massachusetts  and 
Maine  made  such  severe  restrictions  that  Connecticut 
companies  were  practically  excluded  from  these  States. 

In  the  South,  Tennessee  joined  in  the  movement 
to  bar  foreign  companies,  or  to  make  their  stay  so 
oppressive  and  uncomfortable  that  they  would  shut 
up  shop  and  go  home.  This  the  /Exna  did  when  it 
closed  up  its  Memphis  agency  in  1845  ^^ter  a  brief 
trial.  The  failure  of  local  companies,  which  threatened 
to  leave  the  State  unprotected  against  fire,  led  in  1851 
to  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  statutes. 

In  Virginia,  so  strong  grew  the  opposition  to  all 
companies  not  bearing  the  Virginia  brand  of  incorpora- 
tion that  the  fire  companies  refused  to  put  out  fires  in 
buildings  insured  in  foreign  companies;  in  other  words, 
they  would  attend  only  "union"  fires.  Such  a  situa- 
tion put  bitterness  and  indignant  protest  into  the 
ink  with  which  Secretary  Loomis  wrote  in  November, 
1 841,  to  Robert  Ritchie,  agent  at  Petersburg,  Virginia: 

There  is  something  rather  horrifying  in  the  Fourth  Resolution 
of  the  fire  companies.  Will  they  utterly  disregard  the  claims  of 
Society  and  not  make  an  effort  to  save  the  property  of  one  of  their 
citizens  because  he  may  be  insured  by  an  office  out  of  Virginia? 
Will  they  stand  by  and  without  manning  their  brakes  see  the 
property  of  one  of  their  fellow  citizens  pass  to  destruction? 
Humanity  would  forbid  it.  No  son  of  the  Old  Dominion  would 
be  such  a  bankrupt  in  chivalry  as  to  permit  it.  If  the  insurance 
companies  were  to  partake  of  a  tithe  of  the  feverish  excitement 

[201] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

that  seized  your  firemen,  they  would  stop  their  agencies  and  aban- 
don the  place  to  its  fate.  But,  Sir,  we  always  aim  to  keep  cool  — 
the  world  will  never  wag  right  for  all  of  us  —  but  we  must  make 
the  best  of  it,  go  on  steadily,  do  our  whole  duty  —  make  others, 
as  far  as  we  can,  and  be  content.  We  hope  good  will  come  of  the 
Resolutions,  that  all  may  be  benefited  and  satisfied. 

This  general  opposition  continued  for  many  years, 
for  in  April,  1865,  President  Alexander  in  a  letter  to 
J.  B.  Bennett,  General  Agent  at  Cincinnati,  wrote: 

Notice  your  troubles  with  State  Legislature;  they  seem  to 
crop  up  everywhere  just  now  under  the  pressure  of  State  insti- 
tutions, which  appear  to  attribute  their  absence  of  success  to  the 
fact  that  if  competition  did  not  exist  brains  would  not  be  necessary 
to  success. 

During  all  this  time  the  insurance  business  was 
progressive  and  reaching  safer  and  saner  lines  of 
underwriting  and  administration.  Soon  after  the  war, 
those  who  prepared  taxation  schemes  for  the  separate 
States  realized  that  insurance  companies  were  easy 
prey;  and  beside  taxing  premiums,  imposed  fees  for 
filing  statements  and  other  ingenious  devices  for 
enriching  the  State.  Fire  insurance  companies  have 
had  three  serious  problems:  fires,  legislation,  and  taxes. 

In  the  earliest  decades  of  fire  insurance  legislation, 
the  greater  part  of  the  law-making  seemed  to  be  con- 
cerned with  protecting  the  local  companies  against 
foreign  competition  and  with  increasing  the  revenues 
of  the  State.  Fifty  years  or  so  ago  it  took  a  new 
turn  in  seeking  to  protect  the  people  and  to  safeguard 
the  companies  in  one  way  or  another.  Some  of  this 
legislation  was  good,  some  bad,  and  some  dubious. 

It  was  in  1874  that  the  much-discussed  "valued 
policy"  legislation  was  begun  by  the  passage  of  a  law  by 

[202] 


THE  LAW  MAKERS  AND  INSURANCE 

the  State  of  Wisconsin,  under  the  title:  "An  Act  to 
Prevent  Over-Insurance."  The  valued  poHcy  was  a 
contract  in  which,  in  case  of  a  total  loss  of  the  property, 
the  full  face  of  the  policy  would  be  paid  irrespective 
of  the  value  of  the  property  at  the  time  of  the  fire. 
The  i^tna  and  other  strong  companies  were  opposed 
to  it.  Almost  from  the  beginning  of  business,  insurance 
companies  expressly  forbade  agents  writing  such  policies, 
because  it  was  believed  that  they  encouraged  over- 
insurance  and  fraud.  The  companies  claimed  that  it 
violated  the  essential  principle  of  fire  insurance,  which 
is  indemnity,  restoring  the  insured  to  exactly  the  posi- 
tion held  before  the  loss.  If  the  insured  were  to  profit 
by  the  fire,  the  policy  would  prove  an  inducement  to 
carelessness,  fraud  and  crime.  The  practical  experience 
of  the  insurance  company  said  one  thing,  the  theory 
of  legislators  said  another. 

Then  began  an  epidemic  of  valued-policy  laws, 
which,  by  the  year  191 5,  had  been  passed  in  twenty-two 
States.  In  that  year,  Wisconsin,  the  State  that  had 
started  it  all,  after  having  given  it  forty  years  of 
trial  repealed  its  law  of  1874,  and  substituted  for  it 
an  act  forbidding  insuring  or  paying  losses  in  excess 
of  the  cash  value  of  property. 

Another  form  of  legislation  that  has  interfered 
with  and  modified  the  natural  development  of  the 
business  of  fire  insurance,  is  the  excessive  and  unwise 
State  supervision  manifested  in  anti-compact  laws. 
Early  in  the  nineteenth  century  it  was  recognized 
that  a  just  rate  of  premium  was  the  only  one  that 
was  safe  and  sound  for  insurer  and  insured.    It  should 

[203] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

be  a  rate  that  would  permit  the  insurance  companies 
to  pay  ordinary  losses  and  to  leave  a  profit  for  stock- 
holders, while  permitting  the  laying  aside  of  a  reserve 
fund  to  meet  extraordinary  losses  such  as  might 
come  with  a  great  fire. 

Where  the  rate  was  put  too  low,  it  encouraged  a 
volume  of  business  that  was  unsafe,  because  it  did 
not  secure  sufficient  funds  to  meet  losses,  and  led  to 
the  failures  of  companies.  If  the  rate  were  excessively 
high,  it  left  an  extra  margin  for  rate-cutting,  which 
grew  more  vigorous  and  reckless  in  the  fierce  compe- 
tition between  companies,  bringing  them  too  often 
into  the  low  rates,  unsafe  to  them  and  to  their 
customers.  Every  big  fire  proved  this  by  wiping  out 
weak  companies;  then  a  period  of  sanity  and  reform 
came  in,  with  adherence  to  a  fair  rate  for  a  little  time, 
until,  in  the  fervor  of  business-getting,  rate-slashing 
commenced.  The  tendency  seemed  as  natural  as  the 
recurrence  of  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tides. 

The  early  conferences  of  the  JEtna  with  the  other 
Hartford  companies  were  in  recognition  of  this  situation 
and  of  an  earnest  desire  to  end  it  in  the  interests  of  all 
companies.  There  were  other  conferences  and  meetings 
of  local  boards  in  different  parts  of  the  country  seeking 
the  solution  of  the  same  problem.  There  were  two 
elements  to  be  considered  —  the  determination  of  a 
fair  rate  and  the  agreement  to  maintain  it.  The 
mastery  of  these  two  factors  demanded  co-operation, 
conferences,  and  compacts.  To  find  out  what  was  a 
fair  rate  required  the  classifying  of  statistics  and 
experience,   not  of  one   company,   but    of  many.     It 

[204] 


THE  LAW  MAKERS  AND  INSURANCE 

meant  making  underwriting  a  scientific  process  based 
on  adequate  data. 

In  1885  an  unwise  campaign  against  this  getting 
together  of  the  companies  was  begun  by  an  anti- 
compact  law  passed  in  Ohio,  later  followed  by  similar 
legislation  in  other  States.  The  plea  has  been  that 
insurance  co-operation  is  monopolistic  in  character, 
and  therefore  this  co-operation  has  been  forbidden. 
Companies  and  their  agents  have  been  barred  from 
fixing  rates.  Not  only  this,  but  companies  have  often 
been  indicted,  fined,  and  deprived  of  authority  to  issue 
policies  because  of  membership  in  associations  organized 
for  the  purely  scientific  purpose  of  ascertaining  their 
average  experience. 

In  the  history  of  the  yEtna  are  seen  frequent  dis- 
turbances in  its  Southern  business,  because  of  legislation 
that  made  its  agency  work  there  impossible  or  unprofit- 
able. In  January,  1889,  the  ittna  announced  its 
re-entrance  into  Georgia  after  being  out  about  ten 
years;  and  appointed  Henry  E.  Rees,  later  Vice- 
President  of  the  Company,  as  Special  Agent  for  Georgia, 
North  and  South  Carolina,  and  Florida. 

In  1916  practically  every  foreign  fire  insurance 
comany,  including  the  /Etna,  and  all  the  other 
Hartford  companies,  withdrew  from  South  Carolina 
because  of  the  anti-compact  and  anti-discriminating 
laws.  Companies  were  prevented  from  employing  a 
common  rating  agent,  which  naturally  put  the  South- 
Eastern  Underwriters'  Association  out  of  the  State. 
One  provision  of  the  law  required  that  all  risks  of 
similar   hazard   must    be   rated    alike,    and   gave     the 

[205] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

commissioner  of  insurance  absolute  power  to  raise 
or  reduce  any  rate. 

Connecticut  has  been  most  liberal  and  fair  in 
its  insurance  legislation,  and  to  this  is  partially  due 
the  high  position  it  occupies  in  the  insurance  world. 
In  1907  the  Legislature  passed  the  "Reciprocal 
Obligations  Act,"  which  accorded  to  foreign  insurance 
companies  from  another  State  doing  business  in 
Connecticut  the  same  general  treatment  as  Connecti- 
cut agents  received  in  the  other  State. 

There  have  been  some  who  have  urged  fire  insur- 
ance as  a  new  avenue  of  government  business.  As  has 
been  repeatedly  shown  in  these  pages,  one  constant 
element  in  successful  fire  insurance  is  distribution 
of  risks.  State  fire  insurance  means  essentially  con- 
centration of  risks,  with  appalling  losses  in  a  great 
conflagration.  Had  the  San  Francisco  fire  fallen 
on  the  State  of  California,  the  loss  of  $350,000,000 
would  have  been  one  that  would  have  paralyzed  the 
state  for  a  generation. 

The  greater  part  of  the  legislation  now  on  the 
statute  books  of  the  States  that  has  really  advanced 
fire  insurance,  making  It  safer  and  more  just  for  insurer 
and  Insured,  has  come  from  making  mandatory  on 
all  companies  the  wise  principles  and  policies  evolved 
by  a  few  leading  companies  in  their  natural  growth 
and  evolution. 


[206] 


Chapter  XV 

MARINE  UNDERWRITING 

MARINE  insurance  is  the  father  of  all  the  many 
phases  of  insurance  known  in  the  world  today. 
Many  centuries  before  marine  underwriting, 
as  we  know  it  now,  had  been  in  existence,  there  was 
in  operation  a  form  of  protection  on  vessels  and  their 
cargoes  among  the  commercial  nations  of  the  ancient 
world. 

This  early  form  of  insurance  was  called  a  "loss 
on  bottomry";  it  was  a  loan  on  the  security  of  a 
vessel  and  its  cargo  at  a  high  rate  of  interest;  if  the 
ship  completed  its  voyage  in  safety,  the  loan  and 
interest  were  to  be  paid  by  the  ship-owner,  but  in 
case  of  the  loss  of  the  vessel  the  lender  forfeited  the 
principal  and  the  interest.  It  was  the  reverse  of  the 
present  system,  the  indemnity  being  paid  in  advance 
and  returned  plus  interest  or  premium  if  the  trip 
proved  safe,  while  today  the  indemnity  is  paid  only 
after  loss  and  the  premium  is  paid  in  advance. 

It  is  said  that  the  Rhodians  had  some  form  of 
meeting  losses  by  sea  during  the  period  of  their  com- 
mercial activity  from  916  to  893  B.  C,  though  we 
have  no   details   as   to   the   method    employed.     The 

[207] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

next  development  is  found  In  the  operations  of  the 
Hanseatic  League,  which  dominated  the  commerce 
of  Northern  Europe  for  nearly  four  hundred  years, 
from  1239  to  1630  A.  D. 

It  Is  generally  believed  that  marine  Insurance, 
as  It  now  exists,  originated  In  Italy.  Giovanni  VUlanl, 
a  14th  century  Florentine  historian,  speaks  of  marine 
Insurance  as  having  first  appeared  In  Lombardy  In 
II 82.  At  that  time  the  whole  banking  and  overseas 
trade  of  Europe  was  In  the  hands  of  the  Lombard 
Jews.  One  family,  at  least,  went  to  England  and 
settled  in  London,  In  what  Is  today  known  as  Lombard 
Street,  the  center  of  the  banking  section.  They 
entered  Into  a  banking  and  pawnbroking  business, 
using  the  Lombard  arms  of  the  three  golden  balls  as 
their  sign,  and  also  Issued  marine  insurance  policies. 
The  earliest  policies  issued  in  England,  in  1547  and 
1548,  were  written  in  Italian,  but  the  names  of  the 
subscribers  or  underwriters  were  In  English. 

Following  its  introduction  Into  England,  marine 
underwriting  spread  rapidly  to  the  various  commercial 
centers  of  Europe.  The  Lloyd's  policy  now  used  in 
England  is  very  like  that  prevailing  in  the  early 
part  of  the  17th  century,  and  many  features  of  the 
English  policy  have  been  Incorporated  in  the  policies 
used  In  America. 

Coffee  houses  and  Insurance  companies  seem  closely 
associated  In  the  history  of  underwriting.  It  was 
in  coffee  houses  that  many  of  the  great  companies 
were  born.  This  is  natural,  too,  when  we  realize 
that  in  the  earlier  days  these  were  the  places  where 

[208] 


MARINE  UNDERWRITING 


men  assembled  for  business  discussion  as  well  as  for 
social  entertainment. 

As  with  the  ^tna,  it  was  in  a  coffee  house  that 
"Lloyd's,"  the  world-renowned  shipping  and  insurance 
exchange,  was  organized.  Its  beginnings  were  humble 
in  the  coffee  house  established  by  Edward  Lloyd  in  the 
middle  of  the  17th  century.  His  little  place  was  largely 
patronized  by  seamen  and  merchants;  and  to  make  it 
more  popular,  he  started  a  system  of  correspondence 
at  home  and  abroad  to  keep  him  informed  of  the  move- 
ment and  character  of  vessels  for  the  information  of 
his  patrons.  It  was  successful;  it  filled  a  real  need, 
and  was  extended  on  a  larger  scale.  Lloyd's  soon 
became  the  meeting  place  of  underwriters,  and  the 
foundation  of  a  future  great  business  was  laid. 

In  America,  prior  to  the  end  of  the  i8th  century 
the  only  form  of  marine  insurance  was  by  individual 
underwriters,  and  these  were  for  the  most  part  British; 
early  colonial  correspondence  has  frequent  reference 
to  London  indemnity  for  American  shipping.  It 
proved  a  slow  and  irksome  process,  and  in  1759  the 
first  marine  insurance  office  was  opened  in  New  York. 
Others  soon  followed. 

It  was  natural,  and  to  be  expected,  that  the  iEtna 
in  the  city  of  Hartford,  with  its  associations  with 
West  Indian  trade  and  other  shipping,  would  early 
look  to  marine  underwriting  as  an  adjunct  or  branch 
of  its  fire  insurance  business,  and  that  there  would  be 
calls  and  suggestions  for  it  to  enter  this  field.  It 
was  in  1826,  when  the  Company  was  seven  years  old, 
that    the    first    application    to    the    Legislature    for    a 

14  [209I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE      ^M/£f^ 

charter  amendment  authorizing  it  to  underwrite  inland 
marine  risks  was  made.  Because  of  the  active  opposi- 
tion of  certain  marine  insurance  companies,  this  was 
refused;  later  trials  were  equally  unsuccessful;  and 
it  was  not  until  1839  that  the  long-denied  permission 
was  finally  granted. 

But  even  with  the  authority  to  act,  the  Company 
did  not  actually  begin  to  write  inland  marine  Insurance 
until  four  years  later.  The  general  attitude  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  at  this  time  may  be  seen  in  a  letter 
written  by  Secretary  Loomis  in  June,  1843,  in  which 
he  said: 

We  have  procured  an  amendment  to  our  charter  authorizing 
the  Company  to  insure  against  the  hazards  of  Internal  Naviga- 
tion —  but  we  have  no  power  to  go  outside.  Directors,  however, 
are  not  yet  prepared  to  enter  upon  this  branch,  and  they  will 
never  do  so  at  many  points.  As  factories  are  becoming,  nay, 
have  already  become,  bad  subjects  for  our  protection,  the  Board 
will  be  more  likely  to  go  into  Navigation  as  a  substitute  for 
this  description  of  business.  Our  charter  does  not  give  us  power 
of  insuring  money  by  mail  or  by  steam  boats. 

In   all   the  correspondence  on   the    subject  at  this 

time  there  was  an  atmosphere  of  characteristic  caution, 

and  evidences  of  hesitancy  about  engaging  in  the  new 

business.     Marine  risks  seem  to  have  been  considered 

as  a  side-line,  as  taking  a  flyer  in  a  new  field  where  the 

flight  would  be  low,  cautious  and  tentative.     This  is 

clearly  evident  in  Secretary  Loomis'  letter  to  W.   S. 

Vernon,  agent  at  Louisville: 

As  more  reflection  on  the  subject  of  restrictions  has  been 
given  by  our  Board,  they  agree,  on  the  whole,  that  we  might  as 
well  go  into  the  business  (Inland  Marine)  as  other  prudent  cor- 
porations would,  and  do.  And  with  your  wise  judgment  and 
experience  we  feel  safe  in  committing  our  interests  to  your  charge. 

[210] 


MARINE  UNDERWRITING 


There  is  one  feature  in  this  business  that  there  is  not  in  fire  — 
the  risks  terminate  in  a  few  days,  and  if  we  get  sick  of  our  business 
in  that  line  we  can  wind  it  up.  If  the  business  should  prove 
fair,  it  may  induce  our  Board  to  make  your  powers  more  general. 

This  was  written  in  October,  1843,  at  the  time  of 
the  appointment  of  the  first  agents.  They  were 
selected  for  river  towns  in  the  South,  such  as  Appala- 
chicola,  Macon,  Savannah  and  Columbus,  Georgia, 
Mobile,  New  Orleans,  Natchez  and  Louisville,  and 
were  authorized  to  take  risks  on  cargoes  of  steamers 
and  pole-boats,  but  not  on  the  boats  themselves.  There 
was  a  strict  limitation,  too,  to  the  area  to  be  covered 
by  the  policies,  which  was  up  the  Mississippi  as  far 
as  St.  Louis  and  on  the  Ohio  to  Pittsburgh.  The 
cargoes  of  that  species  of  river  craft  known  as  boxes, 
arks  or  broadhorns,  because  extra-hazardous,  were 
declared  non-insurable  by  the  Company. 

The  first  policies  were  issued  in  December,  1843. 
A  few  lines  in  the  same  month  from  Loomis  to 
W.  B.  Robins,  JEtna.  fire  agent  at  Cincinnati,  throw 
an  interesting  side-light  on  the  difficulties  of  corre- 
spondence at  this  time: 

The  Board  have  this  evening  made  you  their  Marine  Agent. 
The  documents  will  be  forwarded  by  Mr.  Junius  S.  Morgan, 
who  leaves  for  the  West  on  Monday  morning  next. 

The  primitive  method  of  sending  letters  by  hand 
still  persisted,  and  a  coming  leader  in  the  financial 
world  did  not  scorn  to  act  as  the  messenger. 

With  the  marine  insurance  underwriting  well  begun 
in  the  South,  the  next  step  in  the  development  of  this 
branch  of  the  i^tna's  business  was  a  reaching  out  to 
the  larger  field  of  the  Great  Lakes.     In    1847   Capt. 

[ml 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

E.  P.  Dorr  was  appointed  General  Agent  at  Buffalo, 
where  an  office  was  opened  devoted  to  inland  marine 
insurance.  On  the  death  of  Capt.  Dorr,  O.  T.  Flint, 
who  had  been  employed  and  trained  in  Capt.  Dorr's 
office,  succeeded  him,  and  served  until  February  4, 
1 891;  when  the  Board  of  Directors  voted  to  discontinue 
the  office  at  Buffalo,  and  to  establish  a  separate  branch 
for  marine  insurance  in  New  York  City,  with  H.  J. 
Parmalee  as  Superintendent,  and  a  branch  in  Chicago 
under  the  superintendence  of  James  S.  Gadsden,  an 
expert  underwriter  and  adjuster,  who  had  done  good 
work  as  one  of  the  adjusters  in  settling  the  losses  at 
the  Chicago  fire.  Associated  with  Gadsden  was  Louis 
O.  Kohtz,  who  was  Assistant  General  Agent.  In  1907, 
when  the  Western  Branch  was  moved  from  Cincin- 
nati to  Chicago,  Thomas  E.  Gallagher  was  appointed 
General  Agent,  and  Gadsden  continued  as  General 
Agent  of  the  Marine  Department;  and  on  his  death 
in  1 911,  Kohtz  became  General  Agent  of  the  marine 
business  at  Chicago. 

The  opening  of  the  New  York  Branch  marked  the 
expansion  of  the  inland  marine  business  into  the 
broader  field  of  coastwise  marine  insurance,  and 
prepared  the  Company  for  its  ultimate  entrance  into 
the  business  of  ocean  marine  underwriting.  In  the  year 
following,  Egbert  O.  Weeks  was  called  from  his  field 
work  in  Pennsylvania,  and  made  Assistant  Secretary  at 
the  Home  Office.  In  addition  to  other  duties  he  was 
placed  in  charge  of  the  inland  marine  business.  Under 
his  more  direct  fostering  care  this  department  thrived, 
and  in  1896  the  Directors  voted  to  appoint  a  committee 

[212] 


MARINE  UNDERWRITING 


to  investigate  the  general  question  of  the  advisability 
of  the  Company's  going  into  the  larger  field  of  ocean 
marine  underwriting.  It  was  not  until  1907,  more  than 
ten  years  later,  however,  that  a  charter  amendment 
was  secured  permitting  the  Company  to  write  ocean 
marine  policies.  Meanwhile,  in  1897,  Weeks  was 
promoted  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of 
Vice-President  Dudley.  Mr.  Weeks  continued  to 
devote  his  energies  to  the  development  of  the  marine 
business  until  the  close  of  his  life  on  October  31,  1902. 
The  department  was  then  placed  in  the  hands  of 
President  Clark,  with  William  F.  Whittelsey  in  active 
charge. 

With  the  ocean  marine  amendment  to  its  charter, 
the  JEtna  was  no  longer  limited  to  risks  on  mere 
inland  navigation;  the  broad  oceans  and  the  waters 
of  the  globe  were  open  to  its  underwriting.  Though 
it  is  now  eighty  years  since  the  ^tna  was  authorized 
to  take  up  inland  marine  insurance,  the  major  part 
of  the  real  history  of  its  marine  business  really  dates 
from  March,  1907. 

In  January,  1908,  the  office  of  Marine  Assistant 
Secretary  was  created,  and  William  F.  Whittelsey 
was  the  logical  choice  for  the  new  position.  He  had 
practical  experience  and  training  in  the  inland  and 
coastwise  marine  field.  He  had  entered  the  employ 
of  the  JEtn3.  in  the  re-insurance  department  at  the 
home  office,  on  February  2,  1891.  For  five  years 
prior  to  this  time  he  had  been  connected  with  the 
local  i^tna  agency  in  Hartford.  Soon  after  coming 
with  the  Company  he  was  appointed  as  examiner  of 

[213I 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

fire  risks  for  the  suburban  business  of  New  York  City. 
When  Vice-President  Weeks  took  control  of  the 
marine  department  in  1897,  Mr.  Whittelsey  became 
his  assistant,  and  so  continued  until  the  death  of  the 
former  in  1902,  when  he  practically  assumed  full 
charge  of  the  department  under  the  direction  of  Presi- 
dent Clark.  In  1905  he  was  appointed  to  the  position 
of  marine  special  agent  at  the  home  office,  and  served 
in  that  capacity  until  his  election  as  Marine  Assistant 
Secretary.  Four  years  later,  on  January  25th,  he  was 
promoted  to  the  new  position  of  Marine  Secretary. 
It  was  on  January  31,  1917,  that  he  won  his  final 
promotion  to  the  post  of  Marine  Vice-President,  the 
position  which  he  still  retains.  When  he  became 
Marine  Assistant  Secretary  in  1908,  the  annual  pre- 
miums of  the  Marine  Department  were  over  ^422,000 
(net).  In  191 8  the  receipts  of  this  department,  includ- 
ing automobile  insurance  premiums,  were  ^3,382,549 
(net). 

The  present  Marine  Secretary  is  Raymond  E. 
Stronach,  who,  after  serving  twelve  years  with  the 
Company  as  chief  clerk  of  the  marine  department 
and  as  assistant  to  Mr.  Whittelsey,  was  made  Marine 
Special  Agent  of  the  i^tna,  and  two  years  later  was 
advanced  to  his  present  position  when  Mr.  Whittelsey 
became  Marine  Vice-President. 

The  principal  agencies  of  the  Marine  Department 
are  located  at  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Baltimore,  Cincinnati,  Jacksonville,  Chicago  and  San 
Francisco.  Prior  to  the  establishment  of  the  marine 
department,    inland    marine    insurance  was    handled 

[214] 


R.E.5TRONACH 

MARINE   SECRETARY 


MARINE  UNDERWRITING 


largely  by  the  regular  fire  insurance  agents  throughout 
the  country,  except  in  some  of  the  larger  ports  like 
Buffalo  and  Chicago;  but  now  the  agents  employed 
specialize  in  marine  insurance. 

There  is  a  tang  of  romance  of  the  very  sea  itself 
in  marine  insurance.  There  is  a  thrill  of  mystery  in 
the  fate  of  some  fine,  strong  vessel  that  went  serenely 
out  of  port  one  day  and  was  never  sighted  nor  heard 
of  again;  a  tingle  of  fresh  delight  in  the  wondrous 
treasures  recovered  from  some  sunken  ship  buried 
for  long  under  the  waters;  a  dash  of  adventure  and 
peril  in  the  narrative  of  the  captain  of  some  vessel, 
marked  off  as  lost  and  the  insurance  money  paid,  a 
prodigal  of  the  sea,  finally  limping  unexpectedly  back 
into  its  harbor  home.  They  seem  the  work  of 
ingenious  writers  of  fiction  rather  than  the  actual 
facts  from  the  prosaic,  musty,  business  records  of  an 
insurance  company.  The  files  of  the  i^tna  archives 
tell  many  such  stories. 

There  was  the  Empress  of  Ireland,  which,  on  May 
29,  1 914,  sank  near  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 
She  settled  gently  in  the  soft  mud  at  the  bottom  of  the 
river,  which  is  138  feet  deep  at  low  tide,  and  then 
decided  to  keel  over  at  a  sharp  angle.  Beside  the 
bodies  of  those  lost  in  the  wreck,  she  contained  251 
bars  of  silver  and  many  valuable  pouches  of  mail. 
To  secure  these  by  divers  was  difficult,  and  the  success- 
ful attempt  made  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
feats  of  deep-sea  salvaging  on  record.  Much  of  the 
work  had  to  be  done  108  feet  below  the  surface  of 
the  water,   an   unusual   depth.     It   was   in   191 5   that 

[215] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

the  attempt  was  made.  To  familiarize  the  divers 
with  the  arrangement  of  the  ship  and  the  location  of 
the  strong  box,  pasteboard  models  were  made,  and  the 
divers  were  thoroughly  schooled  and  drilled  before 
the  great  day  of  the  trial.  They  secured  entrance 
to  the  ship  through  openings  in  her  side,  made  by 
cutting  through  the  plates  of  the  vessel.  One  diver 
lost  his  life,  but  all  the  silver  was  recovered.  The 
^tna  had  paid  the  owners  $82,000,  and  the  Company's 
share  in  the  salvage  was  $67,000,  thus  reducing  the 
i^tna's  net  loss  to  about  1 15,000. 

Most  readers  will  recall  the  furor  created  in 
shipping  circles  when  the  Thomas  W.  Lawson  was 
launched.  She  was  one  of  the  first  steel  schooners  ever 
built,  and  the  first  with  seven  masts,  and  was  fully 
equipped  with  machinery  for  hoisting  the  sails.  After 
several  coal-carrying  trips  along  the  coast  between 
Boston  and  Norfolk,  she  was  finally  sent  to  Europe; 
but  on  this  first  trip  went  ashore  on  the  Scilly  Islands, 
and  became  a  total  loss.  For  the  Etna's  share  in  this 
loss  there  was  no  salvage. 

It  sounds  like  a  Stevenson  story  to  read  of  the 
steamer  Pewabic  colliding  with  the  steamer  Meteor 
near  Thunder  Bay,  Michigan,  and  then  dropping 
down  into  the  waters  of  Lake  Huron,  in  August,  1865, 
with  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  crew  and  passengers, 
and  a  rich  cargo  of  copper  ore,  on  which  the  ^tna  had 
paid  over  $45,000  of  insurance  to  the  owners.  Then 
unromantic  insurance  companies  sent  down  treasure 
seekers,  called  divers,  who  brought  up  little,  though 
several  attempts  were  made  and  nine  lives  were  lost. 

[216] 


MARINE  UNDERWRITING 


But  fifty-two  years  after  the  wreck,  in  1917,  the 
invention  of  a  new  diving  suit  made  another  attempt 
feasible.  Then  divers,  seemingly  like  ghouls  of  fiction, 
walked  in  an  uncanny  way  through  the  rich  saloons 
and  cabins,  now  tenanted  by  skeleton  guests,  removing 
from  them  their  diamonds  and  other  jewels,  much 
gold  coin  and  other  relics  of  value. 

There  is  always  something  that  makes  the  blood 
tingle  in  the  thought  of  buried  treasure,  that  makes 
even  the  mere  catalogue  of  it  seem  thrilling  and  inspir- 
ing. The  Pewabic  divers  brought  up  several  watches, 
revolvers  of  ancient  make,  coins  of  dates  prior  to  the 
Civil  War,  a  black  silk  gown  which  dried  out  as  good 
as  new,  cotton  garments  whose  brilliant  crimson  and 
blue  were  undimmed  by  the  long  soakage,  gentlemen's 
boots  with  the  leather  still  soft,  hand-made  silk  laces 
and  dainty  slippers.  The  slow  work  of  recovering  the 
lost  cargo  of  copper  is  still  in  progress;  and  while  the 
cost  of  salvage  is  great,  the  ^tna  and  other  insurance 
companies  interested  have  already  reduced  their 
original  losses  of  more  than  half  a  century  ago  by 
several  thousand  dollars. 

In  its  marine  department  the  ^tna  has  claim 
agents  all  over  the  world  who  are  daily  settling  claims, 
in  connection  with  which  documents  in  Spanish, 
Italian,  Norwegian,  French,  Japanese  and  many  other 
tongues  must  be  carefully  translated  before  the  losses 
can  be  paid.  The  term  "marine  department"  of  the 
Company  covers  more  than  mere  inland  navigation 
and  ocean  risks;  it  also  includes  the  automobile 
branch  of  the  business. 

[217] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

In  1906  the  Company  began  writing  automobile 
risks  and  sent  out  its  first  letter  to  agents.  The  inland 
marine  amendment  to  its  charter,  in  1839,  was  suffi- 
ciently broad  in  the  words  "against  the  hazards  of 
inland  navigation  and  transportation"  to  cover  fire 
insurance  on  automobiles;  but  the  Company  wanted 
larger  powers,  so  in  1907  it  secured  a  new  amendment 
authorizing  it  to  insure  automobiles  against  damage 
by  fire,  theft  or  collision. 

In  its  earliest  years  of  automobile  insurance,  the 
fire  losses  were  greater  than  the  losses  by  theft;  but 
in  later  years  the  position  has  been  reversed,  and 
fire  losses  have  decreased,  while  losses  by  theft  have 
increased,  as  stealing  automobiles  has  become  an 
organized  business  by  ingenious,  reckless  and  unscrupu- 
lous gangs  throughout  the  country. 

The  JEtna.  also  writes  collision  insurance,  and  covers 
the  loss  from  fire,  sinking,  or  collision  when  the  car  is 
on  a  ferry,  steamboat,  or  railroad  train.  Under  another 
form  of  policy,  registered  mail  is  insured  for  banks, 
brokers  and  financial  corporations  against  all  risks 
of  loss  by  fire,  transportation,  theft  or  otherwise, 
from  the  time  the  package  is  deposited  in  the  post- 
office  for  registration  until  delivered  to  the  consignee 
at  destination,  anywhere  in  the  United  States,  Canada 
or  Mexico.  The  Tourist  Baggage  Policy  covers 
baggage  and  personal  effects  of  the  insured  or  of  his 
family  while  traveling  in  any  part  of  the  world. 

Under  a  marine  pohcy  the  yEtna  has  covered,  at 
one  time  or  other,  about  every  imaginable  risk.  The 
main    features,   of  course,    are   the   insuring   of  hulls, 

[218] 


MARINE  UNDERWRITING 


cargoes  and  freight;  but  it  has  insured  merchandise 
on  mule-back  in  Venezuela,  rubber  in  rafts  down  the 
Amazon,  ivory  from  the  Sudan,  cotton  from  Egypt, 
furs  from  Russia,  gold  from  Alaska,  copra  from  the 
East  Indies,  coffee  from  Brazil,  cotton  from  the  South 
(even  covering  it  on  the  old  bark  Pass  of  Balmahuy 
later  converted  into  the  raider  Seeadler,  recently 
sold  by  salvors  in  the  East  Indies).  Besides  covering 
munitions  and  war  materials  for  Europe,  the  Company 
has  insured  horses  being  shipped  there  for  the  cavalry 
and  guns,  wheat  and  flour  down  the  Great  Lakes  to 
Buffalo,  iron  from  the  Lake  Superior  mines  to  Cleveland, 
and  coal  from  the  Eastern  mining  centers  to  points 
on  Lake  Superior,  hides  from  Iceland  and  Archangel, 
automobiles  to  Mozambique,  and  codfish  from  the 
Grand  Banks. 

Now  firmly  established,  the  ocean  marine  part  of 
the  Company's  business  has  grown  like  a  green  bay- 
tree  from  the  start  and  today  its  agents  may  be  found 
in  every  important  shipping  center  of  the  world. 


[219] 


Chapter  XVI 

DURING  THE  GREAT  WAR 

THE  assassination  of  Archduke  Francis  Ferdi- 
nand, heir  to  the  throne  of  Austria-Hungary, 
and  of  his  wife,  on  June  28,  1914,  was  made 
the  excuse  to  plunge  the  whole  world  into  such  a  war 
that  even  imagination  could  not  have  conceived  it  as 
possible.  Three  years  later  America  was  drawn  into 
the  titanic  conflict. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  great  war  made  ship- 
ping on  the  ocean  an  extra-hazardous  risk,  and  affected 
every  company  doing  ocean  marine  underwriting ;  and 
this  was  quickly  followed  by  the  stealthy  bomb  or 
torch  applied  by  alien  enemies  in  the  United  States 
to  depositories  of  war  material,  to  factories  and  to 
arsenals  and  shipyards.  In  speaking  of  war  conditions 
in  1 91 6,  President  Clark  of  the  y^tna  Insurance  Com- 
pany said: 

Perhaps  the  biggest  year  the  fire  insurance  companies  ever 
had  was  the  fiscal  year  of  1914-15.  While  every  indication  pointed 
toward  even  greater  success  this  year,  and  the  insurance  men 
were  expecting  a  record-breaking  season,  events  have  occurred 
which  materially  change  the  aspect  of  the  situation.  In  the 
munition  factories  of  the  East,  explosions  and  fires  have  occurred 
in  great  numbers.  Factories  manufacturing  clothing  and  other 
supplies  which  were  reported  to  be  war  orders  suffered  similar 

[220] 


DURING  THE  GREAT  WAR 


"accidents"  every  few  weeks.  The  insurance  companies  have 
paid  out  huge  indemnities  as  a  result.  Only  additional  pre- 
cautions taken  by  manufacturers  at  the  instruction  of  the  fire 
insurance  companies  have  prevented  even  greater  losses. 

There  was  a  spirit  of  incipient  panic  among  marine 
Insurance  companies  in  the  fall  of  1914,  regarding 
ocean  risks;  but  the  prompt  decision  of  the  ^tna 
and  other  companies  to  protect  their  customers  and  to 
continue  marine  underwriting  despite  the  war  aided 
greatly  in  restoring  confidence,  and  a  serious  financial 
disaster  in  marine  circles  was  thus  prevented.  There 
was  quick  action  on  the  part  of  the  Company,  for  it 
was  on  September  14,  1914,  that  Marine  Secretary 
Whittelsey  appeared  before  the  Board  of  Directors 
and  reported  his  views  on  marine  conditions  as  affected 
by  the  war. 

Among  the  large  marine  Insurance  losses  of  the 
war  was  that  of  the  Cunard  steamship  Lusitania, 
torpedoed  and  sunk  without  warning  on  May  7,  191 5, 
by  a  German  submarine  off  Old  Head  of  KInsale  on 
the  Irish  coast.  The  iEtna  came  off  fortunately  with 
but  a  slight  loss,  about  $16,000  on  the  cargo. 

The  loss  of  the  Arabic^  a  White  Star  line  steamer, 
on  August  19,  1915,  was  one  of  the  historic  events 
of  the  marine  warfare  of  the  period.  The  vessel 
was  sunk  without  warning  off  the  southern  coast  of 
Ireland  while  on  her  way  to  New  York;  over  fifty 
passengers,  Including  two  Americans,  and  a  number  of 
the  crew,  were  drowned.  The  usual  line  of  diplomatic 
correspondence  followed,  and  the  German  Ambassador 
In  Washington  formally  assured  our  Government  that 
Germany    would    give    "complete    satisfaction    if    it 

[221] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

developed  that  the  submarine  commander  exceeded 
his  instructions."  Later  the  German  Government 
put  in  an  explanation  that  the  Arabic  was  torpedoed 
in  self-defense,  refused  to  pay  an  indemnity,  and  then 
suggested  that  the  matter  be  arbitrated.  This  seems 
to  have  closed  the  incident,  which  cost  the  yEtna 
about  15,270. 

The  Gulflight  was  another  vessel  that  figured 
prominently  in  the  diplomatic  interchange  of  letters 
preceding  by  over  two  years  America's  entry  into  the 
war.  The  Gulflight  was  an  American  tank  steamer 
carrying  50,000  barrels  of  gasoline,  en  route  from 
Port  Arthur,  Texas,  to  Rouen,  France,  and  torpedoed 
by  a  German  submarine  off  the  Scilly  Islands  on 
May  I,  1 91 5.  Three  or  four  weeks  later  the  German 
Admiralty  admitted  the  torpedoing,  but  said  that 
the  submarine  commander  mistook  the  vessel  for  a 
beUigerent.    The  cost  to  the  yEtna  was  about  ^5,000. 

These  are  but  typical  of  the  dozens  of  vessels  insured 
in  part  by  the  iEtna  that  were  the  victims  of  submarines 
or  mines. 

At  every  change  of  conditions,  with  their  presenta- 
tion of  new  problems  and  policies,  the  lEtm.  was  ready 
to  meet  them  in  a  fearless  spirit  of  patriotic  service. 
Resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Directors 
that  salaries  of  Company  employees  entering  the 
military  or  naval  service  of  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment would  be  continued,  and  their  places  held  for 
them. 

The  demand  for  men  to  serve  in  the  army  and 
navy  of  the  nation  depleted  the  clerical  staff;  and  as 

[222] 


41*.') 


n 


rUi^ 


iEtna  SitBuranr^  (Enm^taug 

HARTFORD.  CONNECTICUT 

^lir  fullmiTiug  is  an  fxtrarl  from  tbr  fllmulrs 
uf  tlir  iBrcliuy  of  thr  iBnarii  uf  Dirrrtura  uf 
the  ilftua  3Juauraurr  (£iim|iauii.  Nnurmhcr 
tlntruth.  Niurtmt  lijuuiJrcb  auft  tiyhlrru: 

Ihilrii:  (That  nii  this  Daij  luaDr  mruuirablr  \\\\  the 
Biiuiiim  iif  tlir  Armiiitirr  arrms  bi(  (^rrmnm^  tl)UB  ^irrpariuu 
Ihr  biaii  fur  IHurlit-lBii^r  |Irarr  anft  Drmnrrarii.  Inr  Ilir 
yr^lii^^nt  auh  Dirrrlnrii  uf  the  -^lua  iluauraurr  (luiniianii  in 
niatituiir  tn  thuHr  mm  Uihu  hanr  Irft  tlip  rmpluit  uf  this 
(lumpanii  tu  tutu  the  (Eulurs  anft  tn  lirruiralUi  ^u  tltrir  part 
til  Brntr  uur  (Tuuulrn.  riprra&  w^inx  tiir  rrruriis  Ihr  fulluuiiug 
uamrs  tu  vfrVftualr  thr  liuuor  anb  rstrrm  in  taliirli  hir  l^iiUi 
tlu'w  as  triip  Amrrtcaus: 


ALUS.  HAMMOND  K 
BAKER  R.\>MOND  U 
BAUER.  PAUL  J 
BILL.  HOSWELL  H. 
liLANCWARD.  KENNETH  R 
BOLIRS,  rx>NA(,D 
imOUlLEriE.  ALCJDE 
B\RNE.  C   CARROLL 
(ADU  Fi  I-  HAUL  J 
CARPENTER,  I    KWYHE* 
CARRIER,  EDW  C 
(  A>E,  KOIIEHT  H, 
CHAMPION.  EOGAK  W 
DARLI V^  I  IX;aR  C- 
tNGEL.  OSCAR 
GRACES .  BLTttON  B 
CIMN13AHU  U)MU^U  ] 
GRANT.  LLOYD  5- 
HEPPNER.  WALTER  A 
XOIVMAN.  K-^RL  T 
ILUNGUORTH.  STANLEY  f 
INMAN.  F.t.HERT  B 
]AMt>,  UiLLIAM  A. 
JEWETT.  MARIU6  R 
WFl  sF%.  IJJI  KJfin  L 
KIEFLR.  MAR(XJ>  J 
KNOLL.  ttUJ-IAM 
UWOIF,  EDW.  Iv 
MARVIN.  \    K,  L 


MAKWI'  K.  DUDLEY  A 
MOFFITT.  J  A-XW-RENCE 
MORRDN.  M.\RTIN  \l 
MOULrON.  CARL  f. 

NORTHUP.  GEORGE  A. 
PAGE.  HARRY  R, 


>o.  lu. 


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n.A^ 


PE.\RiiON,  EDWARD  N 
I'lnHL/XDO,  DONALD  C 
ROBERTS,  ALBEKT  W 
RtX^RS.  IRWIN  H 
ROOD.  LESLIE  H. 
ROSS.  S   WILLLXM 
SADlilt  fRl  DK  W 
SPRAGL^  ALBERT  U' 
SPRAGL^  R\^■MO^D  .■■ 
SI  ONE.  J.  H 
TAYLOR.  G    KELLOGC; 
WADDtXk,  JOHN  M 
«-Hrn»EY.  E.ARL  K 
«'1LUAMS.  L  N<JRMAN 
U1NN.  CtXJPER  D,  Jr 
WOODWARD.  ALFRED  J 

Xntii]  f|.  BL  fL.  X. 

aBsON.  MAHRV  H. 
MOODY.  L  HAHOU) 


)Scalrrn  Branrh 

AG-\  \HD.  KNUTE 
BAIliY.  tREU   C 
BALLOL.  RALPH 
BISSLl  U  GR/\N;   t 
BLMR.  ROBERT  G 
BOSS.  W.VLTER 
IMVINL.  Mll>J> 
EGGER.MAN,  ALBTRT 

ENDER,  ARTHUR 
ENi^lJ\NDHR  IJJ'VS 
GALLAGHER.  JA^tES  P. 
c;-\LL\CHER.  VINCENT  L 
CIRARD.  HAH\  EY  i 
GIRARD.  HUBERT 
GOMEHSAU- KOItfKI   R 
GRIMES.  C   T 
HANIEY.  JOHN 
HOLT    ARTHUR  E 
IVES.  LOUIS  k 
1VE,\  RICHARD  tC 
JESSEN.  LOUIS  A 
KbB.  L  A 
I  UKY.  HARRY  B 
Mr  CvVBE.  GEORGE  W 
ME^ ER.  AUGLST  O 
MEMJtS.  JOSIJ'H  I 
ME-I-ERS.  OTTO 
MtXHEl.  FJ>«'    A 


OSCHATZ.  FRED 
PIRKEY.  LOUIS  E- 
BAIT.  GEORGE 
RUSCO.  JOHN 
R"!  AN.  CXO   K 
S10NER  WALTER  B, 
WADE.  CHARLES  B. 
VlOI».  HERMAN  ( 

pariAr  %ranrli 

B.'JtR't .  GEORGE  C 
BREEOEN.  JOHN  P- 
(  *S51DY.  J   A- 
HEISSNER.  GEO.  H..  Jr 
HOkFJ*SU4lU\HfXJNAI  I'ti 
Hi>SKbN.  J    EAR1.E 
JULIAN.  EDWARD  A 
MAUhllALl..  CLYDE 
MILLS.  K  F 
PORTER.  JOHN  T 
HANKIN.  MARSIIALL 
ROSS,  CHARLE5  E 
WENDLAND.  GROVER  A 
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BROWN.  HARR'^  W 


^ 


HONOR  ROLL 


DURING  THE  GREAT  WAR 


was  common  in  all  business  institutions,  the  vacant 
places  were  filled  by  girls.  When  the  armistice  treaty 
was  signed  the  Directors  adopted  this  resolution: 

Voted:  That  on  this  day,  made  memorable  by  the  signing 
of  the  Armistice  Terms  by  Germany,  thus  preparing  the  way 
for  world-wide  peace  and  Democracy,  we,  the  President  and 
Directors  of  the  ^^tna  Insurance  Company,  in  gratitude  to  those 
men  who  have  left  the  employ  of  this  Company  to  join  the  Colors 
and  to  heroically  do  their  part  to  serve  our  Country,  spread 
upon  the  records  the  following  names,  to  perpetuate  the  honor 
and  esteem  in  which  we  hold  them  as  true  Americans. 

Then  follows  the  list  of  names.  A  handsomely 
engraved  copy  of  this  resolution,  containing  the  names 
of  all  on  the  Honor  Roll,  has  been  presented  to  each 
member  and  is  reproduced  herewith. 

In  all  the  calls  for  contributions  to  Red  Cross  work 
and  to  other  war  needs  the  Company  responded  loyally 
and  subscribed  several  million  dollars  for  the  Liberty 
Loan   Bonds  of  our  Government  and  for  the  Victory 
Loan  Bonds  of  Canada. 

A  significant  aftermath  of  the  great  upheaval 
caused  by  the  war  may  be  found  in  the  announcement 
by  the  ^Etna,  in  January,  1919,  that  the  Company 
was  prepared  to  accept  risks  against  the  hazards  of 
riot  and  civil  commotion.  This  decision  was  the 
reflection  of  a  feeling  existing  in  many  quarters  that 
the  world-wide  anarchistic  propaganda  launched  by 
the  Bolsheviki  leaders  in  Russia  might  lead  to  the 
destruction  of  property  in  America. 

When  the  ^tna  began  its  first  century  America 
was  slowly  recuperating  from  a  great  war;  as  it  began 
its  second  century  the  world  was  emerging  from  the 
grim  shadow  of  the  greatest  war  in  history. 

[223] 


Chapter  XVII 

THE  PAST  AND  THE  PRESENT 

GREATER  than  the  success  of  any  individual 
are  the  mental  and  moral  qualities  behind  that 
success.  True  greatness  is  never  an  accident; 
it  is  but  the  final  flowering  of  characteristics  working 
through  the  years  toward  that  greatness  and  making 
it  inevitable.  What  is  true  of  an  individual  is  equally 
true  of  a  corporation. 

In  looking  back  over  the  hundred  years  of  the 
iEtna,  we  find,  breathing  through  its  manifold  acts 
and  activities,  the  same  clearly  defined  principles 
and  policies.  These  are  insistent,  constant  and 
dominating.  They  have  inspired  and  guided  the 
Company  alike  in  its  dark  hours  of  struggle  and  crisis 
and  in  the  sunht  days  of  prosperity.  Presidents, 
vice-presidents,  secretaries  and  directors  changed  with 
the  years,  the  old  dropped  out  and  the  new  came  in, 
and  the  ranks  closed  up  into  what  seemed  the  same 
advancing  body,  inspired  by  the  same  traditions,  the 
same  ideals,  the  same  purpose,  and  the  same  unswerv- 
ing loyalty  and  devotion. 

When  President  Brace  made  his  brief  address  to 
the  stockholders  gathered  together  in  that  first  meeting 
at  Morgan's  Exchange  Coffee  House  on  June  15,  18 19, 

[224] 


THE  PAST  AND  THE  PRESENT 


his  clear,  forceful  words  could  not  have  been  wiser 
had  he  the  prophetic  vision  to  see  through  the 
long  years  of  the  century.  He  spoke  with  fervor 
of  the  supreme  importance  of  the  character  of  its 
officers.  He  realized  that  no  company  could  rise 
higher  than  the  men  that  made  it;  and  he  urged,  in 
the  selection  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  the  necessity 
of  "character,  energy,  enterprise  and  tireless  devotion." 
The  men  constituting  that  first  Board  were  men 
measuring  up  to  that  high  standard,  and  the  same 
standard  has  been  maintained  in  every  year  of  the 
Company's  history. 

The  story  of  the  Company's  Presidents,  Secretaries 
and  other  officers  has  already  been  told  in  these  pages; 
but  of  the  men  who  have  sat  around  the  Directors' 
table  and  determined  what  the  ^tna  should  be  and 
what  it  should  do,  there  has  been  no  space  to  give 
details  except  with  a  special  few  who  were  somehow 
thrown  into  unusual  prominence.  How  loyal  the 
service  of  all,  and  how  safe  and  sound  their  decisions, 
needs  no  proof  other  than  that  evident  in  the  splendid 
achievements  and  prestige  of  the  Company,  whose 
fire  business  now  covers  an  entire  continent  and  its 
marine  underwriting  the  whole  world.  It  is  only 
occasionally,  in  facing  some  real  crisis,  like  the  fire 
at  Mobile  or  at  New  York,  that  the  curtain  is  drawn 
aside  for  a  moment  and  we  see  the  united  spirit  of 
devotion  that  inspired  them  at  all  times. 

The  Company  has  been  remarkable  in  the  length 
of  service  of  its  Directors;  and  this  may  explain,  to 
a  degree,  the  continuity  of  loyalty  to  the  /Etnas 
IS  [225] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

early  ideals  and  traditions.  The  period  of  service  of 
some  of  these  Directors  is  worthy  of  special  mention. 
Drayton  Hillyer  served  for  fifty-five  years,  Roland 
Mather  fifty,  Walter  Keney  forty-five,  Gustavus  F. 
Davis  forty-four,  Samuel  Tudor,  Jr.,  and  Joseph  Church 
forty-three,  Thomas  K.  Brace  and  Robert  Buell 
forty-two,  A.  C.  Dunham  forty,  Francis  B.  Cooley 
thirty-eight,  William  F.  Tuttle  thirty-seven,  Samuel 
S.  Ward  thirty-three,  Charles  H.  Brainard  thirty-two, 
J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  Nathaniel  Shipman  and  Joseph 
L.  Pratt  thirty-one,  Joseph  Morgan  and  Griffin  Stedman 
twenty-eight,  Austin  Dunham  twenty-seven,  and 
Eliphalet  A.  Bulkeley  twenty-six.  Of  the  Board 
serving  in  1919,  the  One  Hundredth  Anniversary  year 
of  the  Company,  the  terms  of  five  had  exceeded  the 
quarter-century  mark  —  Hon.  Morgan  G.  Bulkeley 
thirty-nine  years,  Atwood  Collins  thirty-five,  William 
B.  Clark  thirty.  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  Goodwin  twenty- 
nine,  and  Charles  E.  Gross  twenty-six  years. 

The  personnel  of  the  first  Board  of  Directors  as 
elected  at  Morgan's  Coffee  House  was  noted  as  a 
detail  of  that  meeting,  and  those  serving  the  Company 
in  the  same  capacity  one  hundred  years  later  are 
seen  to  be  men  of  similar  character,  men  of  prominence 
and  leaders  in  their  community.    They  are: 

William  B.  Clark,  President  of  the  i^tna  Insurance 
Company. 

Hon.  Morgan  G.  Bulkeley,  President  of  the  ^Etna 
Life  Insurance  Company. 

Atwood  Collins,  President  of  the  Security  Trust 
Company  of  Hartford. 

[226] 


THE  PAST  AND  THE  PRESENT 


Rev.  Dr.  Francis  Goodwin,  grandson  of  Joseph 
Morgan. 

Charles  E.  Gross,  General  Counsel  of  the  ^tna 
since  1891,  and  senior  member  of  the  law  firm  of 
Gross,  Hyde  and  Shipman  of  Hartford,  which  has 
acted  as  counsel  for  the  i!^tna  for  nearly  half  a  century. 

James  H.  Knight,  President  of  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Hartford. 

Charles  P.  Cooley,  Vice-President  of  the  Fidelity 
Trust  Company  of  Hartford. 

Arthur  L.  Shipman,  member  of  the  law  firm  of 
Gross,  Hyde  and  Shipman. 

Charles  L.  Spencer,  President  of  the  Connecticut 
River  Banking  Company  of  Hartford. 

Charles  A.  Goodwin,  lawyer,  and  great-grandson 
of  Joseph  Morgan. 

Henry  E.  Rees,  Vice-President  of  the  yEtna. 

Almeron  N.  Williams,  Vice-President  of  the  ^tna. 

J.  P.  Morgan,  of  New  York  City,  financier,  great- 
grandson  of  Joseph  Morgan. 

H.  B.  Cheney,  of  the  firm  of  Cheney  Bros.,  silk 
manufacturers  at  South  Manchester,  Connecticut. 

John  L.  Way,  Vice-President  of  the  Travelers 
Insurance  Company  of  Hartford. 

In  analyzing  the  elements  contributing  to  the  growth 
and  greatness  of  the  iEtna,  emphasis  has  been  placed 
on  the  high  character  of  the  Officers  and  Directors  who 
have  managed  its  afi^airs  during  the  first  century  of  its 
existence,  and  to  the  loyalty  and  devotion  of  its  agents. 
To  the  latter  the  Company  owes  a  large  measure  of  its 
success.     As  we  have  noted,  the  iEtna  did  not  invent 

[227] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


the  agent,  but  it  did  transform  him  by  raising  his 
work  to  the  dignity  of  a  profession.  The  JEtna.  agent 
has  been  made  to  feel  that  he  is  not  a  mere  cog  in  a 
machine,  but  a  real  member  of  a  great  family,  con- 
tributing his  share  to  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  all. 

The  same  spirit  of  fairness,  consideration  and 
liberality  that  has  characterized  the  relations  between 
the  Company  and  its  agents  has  also  featured  the 
Etna's  relations  with  the  insuring  public.  From  the 
very  beginning  losses  were  paid  fully  and  promptly. 
The  Company  faced  many  severe  fires,  and  while 
it  was  sometimes  difficult  to  provide  the  great  sums 
needed  to  pay  the  claims,  they  were  always  met  without 
delay.  The  perfect  faith  and  certainty  that  the 
Company  would  always  ''make  good"  was  not  based 
on  a  study  of  the  latest  JEtna  balance-sheet,  but  on 
the  character  of  the  men  behind  it. 

President  Brace's  words,  written  in  1822,  that  "he 
would  never  consent  that  any  honest  insurer  in  the 
^tna  should  be  choused  out  of  a  just  claim  by  a  mere 
subterfuge  or  mere  legal  lack,"  could  have  been  written 
by  every  other  President  of  the  Company  with  equal 
force  and  truth.  The  avoidance  of  litigation  and 
technical  quibbling  has  ever  been  a  dominating  policy 
of  the  Company. 

The  business  of  fire  insurance  is  really  two-fold, 
as  its  sources  of  profit  are  two.  Its  profits  come  from 
the  excess  of  premiums  over  losses  and  expenses, 
and  from  the  interest  on  invested  funds.  It  thus 
becomes  dual  in  its  nature  —  underwriting  and  invest- 
ment banking.     It  is  a  question  whether  the  business 

[228] 


THE  PAST  AND  THE  PRESENT 


of  fire  underwriting  as  a  whole  in  America  during  the 
last  century  can  be  termed  profitable.  In  this  connec- 
tion there  is  peculiar  significance  in  the  statement 
made  by  the  National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters 
following  the  San  Francisco  fire,  that  in  that  disaster 
the  American  fire  underwriting  profits  of  more  than 
forty  years  had  been  wiped  out  in  a  few  hours.  The 
same  note  was  sounded  a  few  years  ago  by  Henry  H. 
Hall,  in  "One  Hundred  Years  of  American  Commerce," 
in  which  he  stated:  "The  business  of  fire  underwriting 
in  the  United  States  for  the  past  century  has  been  done 
at  a  loss;  and  the  most  successful  companies,  as  a 
whole,  have  not  retained  more  than  simple  interest 
upon  their  capital  and  invested  funds." 

In  the  presence  of  such  statements  one  may  faintly 
realize  how  rare  was  the  underwriting  ability,  and 
how  wise  and  far-seeing  the  banking  and  investing 
management,  that  transformed  the  ^Etna  infant  of 
1819,  with  its  paid-in  capital  of  $15,000,  into  the  ^tna 
giant  of  1 91 9,  with  assets  well  over  $30,000,000,  and 
the  payment  of  over  $178,000,000  for  losses  during 
the  last  hundred  years.  It  is  a  record  of  which  all 
its  officers,  from  the  days  of  18 19,  with  President  Brace 
and  his  directors,  to  the  days  of  1919,  with  President 
Clark  and  his  official  staff,  may  well  be  proud. 

As  the  biography  of  a  great  statesman  must  naturally 
overflow  into  larger  relations  of  which  it  forms  an 
inseparable  part,  and  becomes,  to  a  degree,  a  history  of 
his  country,  so  the  story  of  the  origin,  life  and  progress 
of  the  i^tna  must  carry  with  it  concurrently  the  history 
of  fire  insurance  in  America  for  the  same  period. 

[229] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


When  the  ^tna  was  organized  in  1 8 19,  fire  insurance 
as  a  real  business  was  still  in  its  infancy.  It  was  then 
little  more  than  prudence  and  shrewd  guessing;  there 
were  few  statistics  of  value,  and  little  in  the  way  of 
classified  experience.  It  was  somewhat  like  venturing 
into  a  new  country,  but  slightly  explored  and  sparsely 
settled.  There  was  pioneer  work  to  be  done,  and  this 
pioneering  and  the  progress  that  came  from  it  made 
history.  Much  of  this  history  the  yEtna  made;  of 
all  of  it  the  JEtna.  was  a  part. 

The  real,  vital  history  of  fire  insurance  in  America 
is  contemporaneous  with  the  hfe  of  the  iEtna.  The 
great  development  came  from  ideas,  suggestions, 
innovations  and  experience  that  gave  fire  insurance 
new  impetus,  and  progressively  raised  it  to  higher 
planes  of  safety,  surety  and  scientific  underwriting: 
many  of  these  the  iEtna  originated;  in  many  others 
it  co-operated;  in  none  was  it  a  factor  without  influence. 
It  is  in  this  spirit  of  recognition  of  its  splendid  record 
as  an  individual  institution,  and  of  the  vital  part  it 
has  played  in  the  evolution  of  fire  insurance  as  a  busi- 
ness, that  this  story  of  "The  Leading  Fire  Insurance 
Company  of  America" — to  quote  President  Clark's 
slogan  —  has  been  written. 


[230] 


APPENDIX  I 

ORIGINAL  CHARTER  OF  THE  ^TNA  INSURANCE  COMPANY  WITH 

AMENDMENTS 

The  Charter  of  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company  was  granted  at  the  May  Session 
of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  1819,  and  the  Governor's  signature 
of  approval  was  attached  June  5,  18 19. 

During  the  one  hundred  years  from  1819  to  191 9  there  were  thirteen  amend- 
ments made  to  the  original  charter  and  two  general  laws  which  have  the  effect  of 
amendments.    The  original  charter  and  amendments  are  here  given: 

Original  Charter 

Section  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  in  General 
Assembly  convened.  That  the  subscribers  to  the  petition  praying  for  an  act  of 
incorporation,  with  powers  and  privileges  necessary  and  convenient  to  the  business 
of  insurance  against  losses  by  fire,  &c.,  be  and  they  hereby  are  incorporated,  and 
made  a  body  politic,  by  the  name,  style  and  title  of  the  Mtna  Insurance  Company, 
and  by  that  name,  style  and  title,  shall  be,  and  hereby  are  empowered  to  purchase, 
receive,  have,  hold,  possess  and  enjoy  to  themselves,  and  their  successors,  lands, 
tenements,  rents,  hereditaments,  goods,  chattels,  and  effects  of  every  kind  and 
nature;  as  also  United  States  stocks,  and  bank  stock  of  the  United  States  Bank, 
or  any  Bank  in  the  United  States,  and  the  estate  and  stocks  aforesaid  to  alien, 
grant,  sell  and  dispose  of;  to  sue  and  be  sued,  plead  and  be  impleaded,  in  all  courts 
of  justice;  also,  to  have  and  use  a  common  seal,  and  the  same  to  change  at  pleasure; 
also  to  ordain  and  execute  all  by-laws,  and  regulations,  by  them  deemed  necessary, 
for  the  well-ordering  and  governing  said  corporation;  provided  said  by-laws  and 
regulations  are  not  repugnant  to  the  constitution  and  laws  of  this  state,  and  of  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States. 

Sec.  2.  The  capital  stock  of  said  corporation  shall  not  be  less  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  may,  at  the  pleasure  ofsaid  corporation,  be  increased 
to  any  further  sum,  not  exceeding  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  shall  be 
divided  into  shares  of  one  hundred  dollars  each,  and  on  the  said  capital  stock  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  in  part  ofsaid  stock,  shall  be  paid  into  the 
treasury  of  said  corporation,  for  the  use  of  said  corporation,  within  thirty  days 
after  the  first  meeting  ofsaid  corporation,  five  per  centum;  and  within  sixty  days 
next  after  said  first  meeting  ofsaid  corporation,  the  further  sum  of  five  per  centum 
on  said  stock,  shall,  in  like  manner,  for  like  purposes,  be  paid  into  said  treasury; 
and  the  remainder  of  said  stock  shall  be  secured  to  be  paid  by  mortgage  on  real 
estate,  or  endorsed  promissory  notes,  approved  by  the  president  and  directors 
of  said  corporation,  and  shall  be  payable  in  thirty  days  after  demand;  and  such 
endorsers  shall  have  a  lien  on  the  stock  for  which  such  note  or  notes  are  given. 

Sec.  3.  There  shall  be  seventeen  directors  for  the  well-ordering  the  affairs 
of  said  corporation,  chosen  by  one  or  more  ballots  from  among  and  by  the  stock- 

[231] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


holders  of  said  corporation,  which  said  directors  shall  hold  their  office  at  pleasure 
for  one  year,  and  until  others  are  chosen  in  their  room;  and  the  annual  meeting 
for  the  choice  of  said  directors,  shall,  after  the  first  election,  be  holden  in  the  city 
of  Hartford,  on  the  first  Thursday  of  June,  or  on  such  day  in  the  month  of  June  as 
shall  be  appointed  by  said  board  of  directors. 

Sec.  4.  The  said  directors  shall  choose  one  of  their  number  to  be  president 
of  said  corporation,  and  in  case  of  his  absence  from  business,  may,  so  often  as 
necessity  shall  require,  elect  from  among  themselves  a  president  for  the  time  being; 
and  in  case  any  vacancy  shall  occur  in  said  direction,  said  directors  may  elect 
a  director  or  directors,  from  among  the  stockholders,  to  fill  such  vacancy,  who 
shall  hold  their  office  at  pleasure,  until  others  are  chosen  in  their  room;  and  said 
directors  shall  have  power  to  appoint  for  the  time  being,  such  officers,  secretaries, 
agents  and  servants  as  they  shall  judge  necessary,  and  shall  be  capable  of  perform- 
ing such  other  acts,  and  exercising  such  other  powers,  as  shall  be  by  them  deemed 
for  the  best  interest  of  the  company.  And  no  director  shall  be  entitled  to  any 
emolument  unless  by  vote  of  the  stockholders  in  general  meeting. 

Sec.  5.  The  directors  shall  determine  what  number  of  their  own  body  shall 
constitute  a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  business,  and  when  such  quorum  is 
formed,  if  the  president  is  not  present,  the  electors  present  shall  appoint  a  president 

pro  tempore.  •      t       i_  • 

Sec.  6.  The  number  of  votes  each  stockholder  shall  be  entitled  to  m  the  choice 
of  directors,  or  any  other  concern  or  business  of  the  company,  shall  be  equal  to 
the  number  of  shares  he  shall  be  the  owner  of;  provided,  no  stockholder  shall, 
by  virtue  of  the  number  of  shares  he  may  be  the  owner  of,  in  any  case,  be  entitled 
to  more  than  fifty  votes. 

Sec.  7.  The  stockholders  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  in  person,  or  by  proxy  duly 
appointed;  and  none  but  stockholders  shall  be  eligible  as  directors. 

Sec.  8.  Public  notice  shall  be  given,  by  order  of  the  directors,  at  least  ten 
days  previous  to  any  meeting  of  the  stockholders,  in  a  newspaper  printed  in  the 
city  of  Hartford,  and  in  such  other  manner  as  they  may  judge  expedient. 

Sec.  9.  Said  corporation  may  ensure  on  dwelling  houses,  and  all  other 
buildings,  on  ships  and  vessels  of  every  description,  while  in  port  or  on  the  stocks, 
on  goods,  chattels,  wares,  merchandise,  and  on  all  kinds  of  mixed  and  personal 
estate  of  every  description,  and  shall  be  liable  to  make  good  and  pay  to  the  several 
persons  who  shall  be  assured  by  the  said  corporation,  for  all  losses  they  may  sustain 
bv  fire  in  the  subject  matter  insured  agreeable  to  the  contract  of  assurance,  and 
of  their  policy,  effected  with  said  corporation.  Provided  always,  that  no  stockholder 
shall  be  liable  to  said  corporation,  for  any  amount  beyond  the  amount  of  stock  by 
him  holden,  and  unpaid  to  said  corporation,  and  neither  the  members  of  nor  said 
corporation  shall,  in  any  event,  be  liable  beyond  the  amount  of  their  said  capital, 
for  any  loss,  or  losses,  whatever;  but  for  misconduct  or  fraud,  the  person  guilty 
thereof,  shall  be  personally  liable  to  said  corporation,  or  to  the  insured,  as  the 
case  may  be. 

Sec.  id.  The  capital  stock  of  said  corporation  shall  be  transferable  according 
to  the  rules  and  regulations  prescribed  by  the  directors;  and  every  subscriber 
of  any  share,  or  shares  in  said  stock,  who  shall  neglect  to  pay  the  installments 
aforesaid,  or  to  secure  the  residue  of  the  said  share  or  shares  as  aforesaid,  shall 
forfeit  to  the  said  corporation,  such  share  or  shares,  and  all  payments  made  thereon, 
and  all  profits  which  may  have  arisen  thereon. 

Sec.  II.  All  notes  or  policies  of  insurance,  signed  by  the  president,  and 
countersigned  by  the  secretary,  shall  bind  and  oblige  said  corporation  according 
to  the  terms  and  tenor  thereof. 

Sec.  12.  In  case  any  insured,  named  in  any  policy  or  contract  of  insurance, 
made  by  the  said  corporation,  shall  sell  and  convey,  or  assign  the  subject  matter 

[232] 


APPENDIX  I 


insured,  during  the  period  of  time  for  which  it  is  insured,  it  shall  be  hiwful  for 
such  insured,  to  assign  and  deliver  to  the  purchaser  such  policy,  or  contract  of 
insurance,  and  the  same  shall  enure  to  his  benefit,  and  in  every  respect  as  effectual 
as  though  the  same  had  been  delivered  by  said  corporation  to  said  assignee. 
Provided  always,  that  before  any  loss  happens,  such  assignee  shall  obtain  the  consent 
of  the  assignor  to  such  assignment,  and  shall  obtain  said  assent  to  be  endorsed 
on  or  annexed  to  the  said  policy  or  contract  of  assurance,  executed  and  signed  as 
a  new  policy  or  contract  ought  to  be  according  to  such  rules  as  shall  be  prescribed 
by  the  directors,  and  not  otherwise. 

Sec.  13.  Thomas  K.  Brace  is  authorized  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  subscribers 
to  said  petition,  to  be  holden  in  the  city  of  Hartford,  in  the  month  of  June,  1819, 
which  meeting  may  be  organized,  by  a  moderator  and  such  committees  as  shall 
be  deemed  proper,  and  said  meeting  may  be  adjourned  from  time  to  time,  until 
said  corporation  shall  be  organized  agreeable  to  the  charter;  and  the  stock  shall 
be  taken  up  to  the  amount  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  before  said 
directors  shall  be  chosen,  and  before  said  corporation  make  any  assurance. 

Sec.  1 4.  As  soon  as  the  installments  aforesaid  shall  have  been  paid  or  secured 
by  endorsed  notes,  and  the  remainder  of  the  stock  secured  agreeable  to  the  provi- 
sions aforesaid,  and  the  whole  to  be  done  to  the  satisfaction  of  said  directors ;— 

and  no  part  of  said  stock  shall  be  assignable,  or  transferable  until  both  of  said 
installments  shall  have  been  paid,  anything  in  this  act  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing. 

Provided,  this  act  may  at  any  time  be  altered,  amended,  or  revoked  by  the 
General  Assembly. 

General  Assembly,  May  Session,  1819. 

DAVID  PLANT,  Speaker  oj  the  House  of  Representatives. 

JONATHAN  INGERSOLL,  President  of  the  Senate. 

Approved  June  5,  18 19.  OLIVER  WOLCOTT. 


AMENDMENT  NO.  1 

Life  Insurance 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  in  General  Assembly 
convened.  That  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  to  and  for  the  said  corporation  to  add 
to  their  present  actual  capital  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  at  the  pleasure 
of  the  company,  may  increase  said  addition  to  any  sum  not  exceeding  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars;  and  the  whole  of  said  capital  stock,  created  by,  and 
raised  under  this  act,  shall  be  denominated  the  annuity  fund,  and  shall  be  secured 
and  paid  into  the  treasury  of  said  corporation,  and  vested  in  the  same  proportion 
and  manner  as  is  authorized  and  required  by  the  act  to  which  this  is  an  addition, 
in  relation  to  the  fire  insurance  stock  thereby  created.  And  the  stock  created  by 
this  act  shall  be  exclusively  held  and  pledged  as  a  fund  for  the  payment  of  annuities 
which  shall  be  granted  by  said  company,  and  of  losses  upon  insurance  for  a  life  or 
lives,  or  in  any  way  dependent  upon  life  or  lives,  and  shall  in  no  case  be  liable  for  the 
other  debts,  contracts,  liabilities  or  engagements  of  the  said  company.  And  said 
annuity  fund  shall  alone  be  liable  to  pay,  bear  and  satisfy  all  losses,  expenses; 
payments  and  charges  in  respect  to  insurance  on  life  or  lives,  or  in  any  manner 
dependent  on  life  or  lives,  and  annuities  which  may  be  granted  by  said  company; 
and  said  /Etna  Insurance  Company  are  authorized  and  empowered  to  grant 
annuities,  and  make  insurance  dependent  on  life  or  lives;  to  establish  a  form  oi 
policy,  create  officers  for  the  corporation,  prescribe  the  mode  of  authentication 
of  policies,  and  all  other  instruments  lawful  for  said  company  to  execute,  by  seal 


['2-33\ 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


or  the  signature  of  officers,  or  an  officer,  appointed  by  the  corporation  for  such 
purpose. 

Provided  always,  that  this  act  may  be  repealed,  altered,  or  amended  by  the 
Legislature.    General  Assembly,  May  Session,  1820. 

DAVID  Vl^h^T,  Speaker  of  the  House  oj  Representatives. 
JONATHAN  INGERSOLL,  President  of  the  Senate. 
Approved  May  26,  1820.  OLIVER  WOLCOTT. 

AMENDMENT  NO.  2 

Inland  Marine  and  Transportation 

Upon  the  petition  of  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company,  shewing  to  this  Assembly, 
that  in  the  year  1819  they  were  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  this  State, 
for  the  purpose  of  insuring  against  loss  or  damage  by  fire,  which  business  they 
have  ever  since  conducted;  that  their  capital  is  ample  and  abundantly  secured; 
that  the  business  of  inland  navigation,  and  of  insurance  against  the  hazards 
incident  thereto,  have  of  late  years  greatly  increased,  while  the  number  of 
offices  empowered  to  issue  such  policies  is  limited;  that  the  petitioners  have 
frequent  applications  from  their  present  customers  and  others,  to  take  this 
description  of  risks,  which,  under  their  present  charter,  they  are  obliged  to 
decline;  that  it  would  be  for  the  mutual  advantage  of  themselves  and  the 
public,  to  extend  their  powers  to  this  department  of  insurance;  and  praying 
the  Legislature  to  make  the  necessary  amendment  to  their  charter,  as  by 
petition  on  file  dated  the  nth  day  of  April,  1839,  may  more  fully  appear. 
And  now  this  Assembly,  having  inquired  into  the  allegations  of  said  petition, 
do  find  the  same  to  be  true;   therefore. 

Resolved  by  this  Assembly,  That  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company  be,  and  they 
are  hereby  fully  authorized  and  empowered  to  issue  policies  against  the  hazards 
of  inland  navigation  and  transportation;  and  said  policies,  when  duly  executed 
by  the  proper  officers  of  said  company,  shall  be  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  binding 
upon  said  company,  in  the  same  manner  as  though  the  power  to  issue  the  same, 
had  been  granted  by  their  original  charter. 

Approved  May  8,  1839.  WILLIAM  W.  ELLSWORTH. 

AMENDMENT  NO.  3 

Life  Insurance 

Upon  the  petition  of  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company,  praying  for  an  amendment 

of  that  portion  of  their  charter  authorizing  insurances  upon  life. 

Resolved  by  this  Assembly,  That  policies  of  Insurance  issued  by  said  company 

on  the  life  of  any  person,  expressed  to  be  for  the  benefit  of  a  married  woman, 

whether  the  same  be  effected  by  herself  or  her  husband,  or  by  any  other  person  on 


other  persons  effecting  the  same  in  her  behalf,  his  creditors  and  representatives; 
always  provided  that  this  section  shall  not  apply  to  insurances  where  the  annual 
premium  on  the  policy  shall  exceed  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  unless 
paid  from  the  private  property  of  the  wife. 

Approved  June  6,  1850.  THOMAS  H.  SEYMOUR. 

[  234  ] 


APPENDIX  I 


AMENDMENT  NO.  4 
Incorporating  the  Shareholders  of  the  Annuity  Fund  of  the  /Etna  Insurance  Company 

as  a  Life  Insurance  Company 
Upon  the  petition  of  the  /Etna  Insurance  Company,  praying  for  such  an  alteration 
of  its  charter  as  will  constitute  the  shareholders  of  the  annuity  fund  of  said 
company,  their  successors  and  assigns,  a  distinct  corporation  for  the  purpose 
of  life  insurance,  and  the  assumption  of  life  risks,  as  per  memorial  on  file, 
dated  May  9,  A.  D.  1853,  will  more  fully  appear. 

Resolved  by  this  Assembly,  That  the  shareholders  of  the  "Annuity  Fund"  of 
the  said  "^tna  Insurance  Company,"  their  successors  and  assigns,  forever,  be 
and  they  are  hereby  made  and  constituted  a  body  corporate  and  politic  for  the 
purpose  of  life  insurance,  and  for  the  assumption  of  all  or  any  hazards  connected 
with  life  risks,  by  the  name  of  the  "/Etna  Life  Insurance  Company"  and  with 
and  by  that  name  shall  have  and  possess  all  the  powers  and  privileges  and  be  subject 
to  all  the  duties  imposed  upon  the  shareholders  of  said  "Annuity  Fund"  under 
their  present  charter  and  the  amendments  thereof,  and  shall  also  have  all  the 
powers  and  privileges  incident  to  a  distinct  corporation;  provided,  that  all  the 
liabilities  and  obligations  of  said  ^tna  Insurance  Company  for  and  on  account 
of  its  "Annuity  Fund"  shall  continue  and  exist  against  said  company  hereby 
incorporated,  under  the  said  name  of  the  ^tna  Life  Insurance  Company,  and  that 
all  debts,  liabilities  or  obligations  due  to  said  ^tna  Insurance  Company  for  and 
on  account  of  its  "Annuity  Fund,"  may  be  collected  and  enforced  by  said  com- 
pany in  the  name  of  the  ^tna  Life  Insurance  Company,  and  that  all  suits  in  favor 
of  or  against  said  ^tna  Insurance  Company,  for  and  on  account  of  its  "Annuity 
Fund,"  may  be  continued  in  force  and  prosecuted  to  final  judgment  by  or  against 
said  company,  in  the  same  manner  as  if  this  resolution  had  not  been  passed. 

Sec.  2.  That  the  stock,  property,  affairs  and  business  of  said  corporation 
shall  be  managed  and  conducted  by  not  less  than  seven  nor  more  than  ten  directors, 
a  majority  of  whom  shall  reside  in  this  state,  who  shall  be  chosen  by  ballot  from 
and  by  the  stockholders  of  said  company,  and  the  present  managing  directors  and 
officers  of  said  company  shall  be  the  officers  of  said  corporation  until  the  first 
Monday  of  July  next,  when  and  in  each  successive  year  thereafter,  on  the  day 
aforesaid,  an  election  shall  be  held  for  the  choice  of  directors  of  said  company,  ten 
days  previous  notice  thereof,  having  been  given  in  some  newspaper  printed  in  said 
Hartford;  each  stockholder  shall  be  allowed  one  vote  for  each  and  every  share 
of  stock  held  by  him,  and  the  directors  of  said  company  shall  choose  a  president 
and  secretary  of  the  said  corporation,  who  shall  hold  their  offices  for  one  year,  and 
may  appoint  such  other  officers  and  agents  as  shall  by  them  be  deemed  expedient 
for  conducting  the  business  of  the  company. 

Approved  May  28,  1853.  THOMAS  H.  SEYMOUR. 

AMENDMENT  NO.  5 

Authorizing  Increase  of  Capital 
Upon  the  petition  of  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company,  praying  for  an  increase  of 

capital. 

Resolved  by  this  Assembly,  That  the  /Etna  Insurance  Company  be,  and  they 
are  hereby  authorized  and  empowered  to  add  to  the  capital  stock  of  said  company, 
from  time  to  time,  any  number  of  shares,  not  exceeding  in  the  aggregate,  ten 
thousand  shares,  of  the  par  value  of  one  hundred  dollars  each  at  such  time  or  times, 
as  the  directors  of  said  company  may  deem  proper,  which  said  additions  to  said 
capital  shall  be  made  from  the  surplus  earnings  of  said  company  and  shall  be  divided 
pro  rata,  among  the  persons  who  may  be  stockholders  at  the  time  or  times  when 
such  additions  shall  be  made. 

Approved  May  16,  1857.  ALEXANDER  H.  HOLLEY. 

[235] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

AMENDMENT  NO.  6 

Authorizing  Increase  of  Capital 

Resohed  by  this  Assembly,  That  the  /Etna  Insurance  Company  be  and  they 
are  hereby  authorized  and  empowered  to  add  to  the  capital  stock  of  said  company, 
from  time  to  time,  any  number  of  shares,  not  exceeding  in  the  aggregate,  fifteen 
thousand  shares,  of  the  par  value  of  one  hundred  dollars  each,  at  such  time  or 
times,  as  the  directors  of  said  company  may  deem  proper,  which  said  additions 
to  said  capital  shall  be  made  from  the  surplus  earnings  of  said  company  and  shall 
be  divided  pro  rata,  among  the  persons  who  may  be  stockholders  at  the  time  or 
times  when  such  additions  shall  be  made. 

Approved  January  15,  1864.  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM. 

AMENDMENT  NO.  7 

Authorizing  Increase  of  Capital 

Resolved  by  this  Assembly, —  Section  i.  That  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company 
be  and  they  are  hereby  authorized  and  empowered  to  add  to  the  present  capital 
stock  of  said  company,  any  number  of  shares  not  exceeding  in  the  aggregate  twenty 
thousand  shares,  of  the  par  value  of  one  hundred  dollars  each,  at  such  time  or  times 
and  upon  such  terms  and  conditions  as  the  directors  of  said  company  may  deem 
proper,  which  said  additions  to  said  capital  shall  be  divided  pro  rata  among  the 
persons  who  may  be  stockholders  at  the  time  or  times  when  such  additions  shall  be 
made. 

Sec.  2.  That  so  much  of  Sec.  6  of  the  original  charter  of  the  ^tna  Insurance 
Company,  approved  June  5,  18 19,  as  provides  that  no  stockholder  shall  by  virtue 
of  the  number  of  shares  he  may  be  the  owner  of,  in  any  case  be  entitled  to  more 
than  fifty  votes,  be  and  the  same  is  hereby  repealed. 

Approved  February  14,  1877.  RICHARD  D.  HUBBARD. 

AMENDMENT  NO.  8 

Hazards  of  Lightning  and  Other  Elements. 

Resolved  by  this  Assembly,  That  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company  may  insure 
against  any  loss  or  damage  to  all  kinds  of  property  by  the  elements  including 
damage  by  lightning. 

Approved  March  i,  1881.  HOBART  B.  BIGELOW. 

AMENDMENT  NO.  9 

Changing  Date  of  Annual  Meeting 

Resolved  by  this  Assembly,  —  Section  1.  That  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
^tna  Insurance  Company  for  the  choice  of  directors  of  said  company,  and  for 
the  transaction  of  other  proper  business,  shall,  after  the  year  1886,  be  holden  on 
the  third  Thursday  of  January  in  each  year,  or  on  such  other  day  in  the  month  of 
January  in  each  year  as  shall  be  appoint«d  by  the  board  of  directors  of  said  com- 
pany. 

Sec.  2.  The  directors  of  said  company  who  may  be  chosen  at  the  annual 
meeting  to  be  held  in  June,  1886,  shall  hold  their  office  until  the  next  annual  meet- 
ing and  until  others  are  chosen  in  their  room. 

Sec.  3.  So  much  of  the  charter  of  said  company  as  is  inconsistent  herewith 
is  hereby  repealed. 

Approved  February  24,  1886.  HENRY  B.  HARRISON. 

[236] 


APPENDIX  I 


AMENDMENT  NO.  10 
Number  of  Directors 
Resolved  by  this  Assembly,—  Section  i.  That  the  stockholders  of  the  /Etna 
Insurance  Company  may  hereafter  at  the  annual  meetings  of  said  company  choose 
by  ballot  from  among  their  number  a  board  consisting  of  not  less  than  nine  nor 
more  than  seventeen  directors,  who  shall  respectively  hold  their  offices  until  the 
succeeding  annual  meeting  and  until  others  are  chosen  in  their  places. 

Sec.  2.  So  much  of  the  charter  of  said  company  as  is  inconsistent  herewith 
is  hereby  repealed. 

Approved  March  i,  1897.  LORRIN  A.  COOKE. 

AMENDMENT  NO.  11 

Ocean  Marine  Insurance 
Resolved  by  this  Assembly,    That  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company  may  issue 
policies  of  insurance  against  marine  disasters  upon  all  kinds  of  vessels  and  personal 
property  of  every  description. 

Approved  March  26,  1907.  ROLLIN  S.  WOODRUFF. 

AMENDMENT  NO.  12 

Automobile  Insurance 

Resolved  by  this  Assembly,    That  the  ^Etna  Insurance  Company  may  issue 

policies  of  insurance  against  damage  to  automobiles  resulting  from  fire,  from  the 

hazards  of  transportation  and  marine  navigation,  from  theft  of  any  of  their  parts 

or  equipment,  and  from  collision  with  a  stationary  or  moving  object. 

Approved  March  30,  1909.  FRANK  B.  WEEKS,   Lieutenant  Governor 

And  Acting  Governor. 
AMENDMENT  NO.  13 

Authorizing  Increase  of  Capital 
Amending  the  Charter  of  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company 

Resolved  by  this  Assembly, — Section  i.  That  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company 
is  hereby  authorized  to  increase  its  capital  stock,  from  time  to  time,  from  the 
present  amount  of  five  million  dollars  to  any  amount  or  amounts  not  exceeding, 
in  the  aggregate,  the  sum  of  ten  million  dollars. 

Sec.  2.  The  shares  of  each  increase  of  said  capital  stock  as  hereby  authorized 
shall  be  of  the  par  value  of  one  hundred  dollars  each,  and  may  be  issued  to  the 
stockholders  of  the  company  upon  such  terms  and  conditions  as  the  directors, 
at  the  time  of  the  respective  increases,  may  deem  proper;  provided,  however, 
that  no  such  shares  shall  be  issued  at  less  than  par. 

Approved  March  21,  1911.  SIMEON  E.  BALDWIN. 

GENERAL  LAWS 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  charter  rights  of  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company, 
the  following  authorizations  have  been  assumed  by  the  company,  under  the  laws 
of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  namely: 

Insurance   Against  Wind  Storms,    Hail,    Lightning,    Tornadoes,    Leakage  of 

Sprinklers  and  Explosions 

CHAPTER  53,  SECTION  3510  (LAWS  OF  1909) 

An  Act  Amending  an  Act  Relating  to  Insurance 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  in  General  Assembly  con- 
vened: 

Section  i.  Section  3510  of  the  General  Statutes  as  amended  by  Chapter 
23  of  the  Public  Acts  of  1903  is  hereby  amended  by  adding  after  the  words  "wind 

[237] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

storms"  in  the  fourth  line  thereof,  the  word  "hail,"  so  that  said  section  as  amended 
shall  read  as  follows:  Insurance  companies  organized  under  the  laws  of  this  state 
having  power  to  insure  against  loss  by  fire,  may  make  insurance  against  loss  by 
wind  storms,  hail,  lightning,  tornadoes,  cyclones,  leakage  of  sprinklers  and  sprinkler 
systems  installed  or  maintained  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  against  fire,  and 
by  explosions  whether  fire  ensues  or  not;  provided  the  same  shall  be  clearly  ex- 
pressed in  the  policy,  but  nothing  herein  shall  be  construed  to  empower  such 
companies  to  insure  against  loss  or  damage  to  person  or  property  resulting  from 
explosions  of  steam  boilers. 

Sec.  2.    This  act  shall  take  effect  from  its  passage. 

Approved  May  13,  1909.         FRANK  B.  WEEKS,  Lieutenant  Governor 

And  Acting  Governor. 

CHAPTER  13  (LAWS  OF  1915) 
An  Act  Concerning  Marine  Insurance 
Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  in  General  Assembly  con- 
vened: 

Section  i.  Any  corporation  authorized  by  law  in  this  state  to  issue  any 
contracts  relating  to  inland  marine  and  transportation  insurance  or  relating  to 
ocean  marine  insurance  may,  as  a  part  of  such  contracts,  make  insurance  upon 
vessels,  freights,  goods,  wares,  merchandise,  specie,  bullion,  jewelry,  profits, 
commissions,  bank  notes,  bills  of  exchange,  and  other  evidences  of  debt,  bottomry 
and  respondentia  interests,  and  every  insurance  pertaining  to  marine  risks 
of  transportation  and  navigation. 

Sec.  2.     This  act  shall  take  eflfect  from  its  passage. 

Approved  March  10,  191 5.  MARCUS    H.  HOLCOMB,  Governor. 


I  238] 


1^ 


APPENDIX  II 

CHRONOLOGICAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  ^TNA  INSURANCE  COMPANY 

1819 

April  19.     Petition  filed  with  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  for  Company's 

charter. 
June  5.     Charter  of  Company  granted  by  Legislature  and  approved  by  Governor 

Oliver  VVolcott. 
June   15.     First  meeting  of  stockholders  at  Morgan's  Exchange  Coffee  House, 
Hartford,  and  election  of  directors. 

First  meeting  of  Directors  and  election  of  Thomas  K.  Brace,  President,  and 
Isaac  Perkins,  Secretary. 

Offices  of  Company  opened  in  law  office  of  Isaac  Perkins  in  Morgan's  Exchange 
Coffee  House. 
June  25.     Rules  and  by-laws  adopted. 

July  15.     First  investment  of  Company  —  twenty  shares  of  stock  of  the  United 
States  Bank. 

First  installment  of  five  per  cent,  cash  paid  on  Company  stock. 
August  14.     Theodore  Pease,  Director,  died. 

August  15.     Second  installment  of  five  per  cent,  in  cash  paid  on  stock. 
August   17.     First  fire  insurance  policy  written   by  the  ^tna  —  for  ^6,000  for 

Joseph  Morgan,  a  Director,  on  his  Exchange  Coffee  House,  the  premium 
being  I45. 
August  19.     Date  which  the  Company  had  advertised  that  it  would  be  ready  to 

do  business. 
September  2.     Adopted  "Book  of  Instructions"  for  agents. 
September  27.     Thomas  K.  Brace  resigned  as  President. 

Henry  L.  Ellsworth  elected  President. 
October  12.     Re-insured  risks  of  Middletown  Insurance  Company  (First  known 

case  of  re-insurance). 
December  15.     Voted  first  dividend  —  six  per  cent,  on  ?  15,000  of  capital  paid  in. 

1820 
February  16.     Voted  to  limit  single  risks  to  $10,000  except  by  unanimous  vote  of 

the  Directors. 
May  26.     Charter  amended  to  permit  Company  to  write  life  insurance. 

1821 
March  6.     Henry  L.  Ellsworth  resigned  as  President. 

Thomas  K.  Brace,  first  President,  again  elected. 
May  29.     First  individual  risk  over  iio,ooo  ($17,000)  accepted  by  Company  and 

written  by  Stephen  Tillinghast,  agent  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island. 

[239] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


Tune   28.      First   fire   loss   of  Company,    amounting   to   ^4,000   on   building   of 

Shepherd  &  Co.,  at  Northampton,  Massachusetts. 
December  22.     Established  first  agency  in  Canada  by  appointing  Abijah  Bigelow 

agent  at  Montreal.    The  ^Etna  was  the  first  American  fire  insurance  company 

to  do  business  in  Canada,  and  was  preceded  only  by  one  English  company 

and  one  Canadian  company. 

1822 
March  11.     First  trip  of  Company  official  to  adjust  losses,  when  Secretary  Perkins 

visited  Norfolk,  Virginia,  to  adjust  losses  on  woolen  factory  there. 
June  10.     First  trip  of  Company  official  to  appoint  agents,  when  Secretary  Perkins 

made  tour  of  New  England  states. 
December  16.     Increased  capital  of  Company  from  ^150,000  to  $200,000. 

1823 
First  contested  claim  for  insurance.     Company  won  verdict  on  ground  of 

fraud. 

1825 
January  10.     Agents  of  Company  in  New  York  state  petitioned  Legislature  to 

repeal  or  modify  law  taxing  foreign  companies  ten  per  cent,  on  their  business 

in  the  state. 
October  27.     William  L.  Perkins,  local  agent  at  Ashford,  Connecticut,  was  ap- 
pointed first  Special  Agent  of  Company  and  was  employed  to  travel  through 

the  southern  and  central  states  and  establish  agencies. 
December  8.     Adopted  new  rules  and  schedules  of  rates  prepared  by  Secretary 

Perkins. 

1826 
February  23.     Voted   to   ask  Legislature  for   amendment   to  charter  to  permit 

writing  of  Inland  Marine  Insurance. 

1827 
January  22.     Joseph  Morgan  appointed  as  Special  Agent  to  investigate  business 

of  Company  in  Canada  and  settle  losses  at  Quebec. 
November  19.     Appointed  committee  to  devise  ways  and  means  to  meet  losses 

from  big  fire  at  Mobile,  Alabama,  amounting  to  over  $50,000. 
November  26.     Appointed  committee  to  confer  with  officials  of  two  other  Hartford 

companies  with  reference  to  combating  legislation  in  various  states  excluding 

foreign  insurance  companies  and  also  on  the  subject  of  rates. 
December  13.     Adopted  new  schedule  of  premium  rates. 

1828 
January   2.     Established   first   General   Agency   by    appointing    Jeremiah     Van 

Rensselaer  of  Canandaigua,  New  York,  as  General  Agent  for  Western  country 

and  Western  New  York. 
June  9.    James  M.  Goodwin  elected  Secretary  to  succeed  Isaac  Perkins. 

1829 
Elected  William  W.  Ellsworth,  later  Governor  of  Connecticut,  as  first  General 
Counsel  for  the  Company. 

1830 
Adopted  new  schedule  of  premium  rates. 

1835 
April  15.     Authorized  purchase  of  lot  and  buildings  west  of  Treat's  (formerly 

Morgan's)  Exchange  Coffee  House,  for  new  offices  for  the  Company. 
August  3.     Subscribed  for  three  hundred  shares  of  stock  in  proposed  Hartford 

&  New  Haven  Railroad. 

[240] 


APPENDIX  II 


December  i6.     Great  fire  in  New  York  City,    y^tna's  loss  only  ?io,ooo. 

Company  moved  from  its  offices  in  Coffee  House  to  new  offices  at  No.  53 
State  Street. 

1836 
April  25,     Voted  to  purchase  Exchange  Coffee  House  property. 

1837 
January  30.     Voted  ^50,000  to  settle  losses  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick. 
April  24.     James  M.  Goodwin  resigned  as  Secretary. 
June  8.     Simeon  L.  Loomis  elected  Secretary. 

November  6.  Director  Joseph  Morgan  authorized  to  visit  St.  John,  New  Bruns- 
wick, and  adjust  losses. 

1838 
June  7.     President  Brace  authorized  to  make  inspection  tour  of  agencies  in  New 
York,  New  England  and  Canada. 

April  8.     Voted  to  ask  Legislature  for  amendment  to  charter  to  permit  writing 

of  inland  marine  and  transportation  insurance. 
May  8.     Charter  of  Company  amended  as  above  requested. 

December  23.     Voted  to  join  with  other  Hartford  companies  in  agreeing  upon 
new  schedule  of  regulations  and  rates. 
Principal  fire  losses  of  Company  during  this  year  were  the  following:    Rich- 
mond, Virginia,  ?  15,000;  Stonington,  Connecticut,  ^24,000;    St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  $33,500;  New  York  City  (Oct.),  $45,000,  (Dec),  ?i 2,000. 

1840 
Director  Joseph  Morgan   made  several   trips   for   the  Company   as  Special 

Agent. 
Principal  fire  losses  of  company  during  the  year  were  as  follows:  Wilmington, 
N.  C.,  $28,000;  New  York  City,  $12,000;  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  $11,000;  Paterson, 
N.  J.,  $13,000. 

1 841 
July  20.     Voted  to  refuse  risks  on  distilleries  and  theaters. 

November  12.  Subscribed  to  one  hundred  shares  of  stock  in  contemplated  rail- 
road between  Hartford  and  New  Haven. 

1842 
April  19.     Director  Joseph  Morgan  authorized  to  make  extensive  trip  through 
south  and  west  and  appoint  agents. 
Gurdon  S.  Hubbard  appointed  as  first  agent  at  Chicago. 

.  .^843 

September   5.      Voted   to   begin   writing   of  inland   marine   and    transportation 

insurance. 

June  21.  Director  Joseph  Morgan  authorized  to  make  tour  of  inspection  of 
Western  country  and  Canada,  and  appoint  agents. 

April  16.  Subscribed  to  $2,000  of  stock  in  contemplated  railroad  between  North- 
ampton and  Springfield,  Massachusetts. 

.1S45 
July  19.     Big  New  York  City  fire  which  threatened  life  of  the  Company.    Etna's 
loss  $120,000. 
Thomas  A.  Alexander,  later  President  of  the  ^tna,  appointed  New  York  City 
agent  to  succeed  A.  G.  Hazard. 


16  [241] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


December  30.     Voted  to  increase  capital  stock  of  Company  from  ?2oo,ooo  to 
^250,000. 

1846 
February    25.      Voted    to   reinsure   risks   of  Memphis    Insurance    Company   of 
Memphis,  Tennessee. 
Fire  at  St.  Johns,  Newfoundland.    Etna's  loss,  177,000. 

.   1S47 
July  23.     Joseph  Morgan,  Director  since  1819,  died. 

1849 
June  7.     Voted  to  increase  capital  stock  of  Company  from  ^250,000  to  $300,000. 
St.  Louis  fire  in  this  year  cost  ^Etna  ^125,000. 

1850 
June  6.     Legislature  granted  new  amendment  to  charter  to  permit  Company  to 

engage  in  the  business  of  life  insurance. 
June   25.     New  life  insurance  department  organized,  although  no  policies  were 
written  until  the  following  year. 

1851 
Company  began  writing  life  insurance. 
June    5.     Eliphalet  A.   Bulkeley   elected  Vice-President,   and   also   chairman   of 

Managing  Directors  of  Life  Annuity  Fund. 
September  10.     A.  F.  Willmarth  elected  first  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  ^tna. 
He  later  became  Vice-President  of  the  Home  Insurance  Company.    He  retired 
as  Assistant  Secretary  on  June  13,  1853. 

1852 
June  3.    Junius  Spencer  Morgan,  son  of  Joseph  Morgan,  elected  Director  of  the 
iEtna.    He  later  went    to  England  and   became  a  partner  in    the   great 
London  banking  firm  of  George  S.  Peabody  &  Company,  which  afterwards 
was  changed  to  J.  S.  Morgan  &  Company. 
Fire  at  Montreal,  Canada.    ^Etna  loss  ^105,000. 
Fire  at  Chillicothe,  Ohio,    ^tna  loss  ?i  14,000. 

1853 
May  28.     Company's  charter  amended  separating  the  Life  and  Fire  Departments 

of  the  ^tna  and  incorporating  the  life  department  as  a  separate  corporation 

under  the  name  of  The  ^tna  Life  Insurance  Company,  with    Eliphalet  A. 

Bulkeley  as  President. 
June  13.     E.  A.  Bulkeley  retired  as  Vice-President. 

Edwin  G.  Ripley  was  elected  Secretary  to  succeed  Simeon  L.  Loomis. 

A.  F.  Wilim.arth  retired  as  Assistant  Secretary. 
September  2.    Joseph  B.   Bennett  appointed  General  Agent  of  the  ^Etna  and 

head  of  new  Western  Branch  of  the  Company  with  headquarters  at  Cincinnati, 

Ohio. 

1854 
June  8.     Edwin  G.  Ripley  promoted  from  Secretary  to  Vice-President. 

Thomas  A.  Alexander,  New  York  City  agent,  elected  Secretary. 
December  i.     Voted  to  increase  capital  stock  from  $300,000  to  $500,000. 

.  1857 
May   16.     Charter   amended   authorizing  increase  of  capital   from   $500,000   to 
$1,500,000,  to  be  paid  for  out  of  surplus  of  Company. 

[242] 


APPENDIX  II 


June   23.     Stock   dividend   of  $500,000   declared,   thus   increasing   capital   from 

$500,000  to  $1,000,000. 
August  4.     Thomas  K.  Brace  resigned  as  President. 

Edwin  G.  Ripley  elected  President. 

Thomas  A.  Alexander  elected  Vice-President. 

Thomas  K.  Brace,  Jr.,  elected  Secretary. 

1858 
Appointed  Edward  H.  Parker  of  San  Francisco  as  first  ^tna  agent  on  the 
Pacific  Coast. 
December   17.     Henry  L.  Ellsworth,  former  President  of  JEtna,  died  at  Fair, 
haven,  Connecticut. 

1859 
December  27.     Voted  stock  dividend  of  $500,000,  thus  increasing  capital  from 
$1,000,000  to  $1,500,000. 

i860 
June  14.     Thomas  K.  Brace,  former  President  of  the  ^tna,  died. 

1861 
Closed  agencies  in  the  South  on  account  of  the  Civil  War. 
July  3.     Thomas  K.  Brace,  Jr.,  resigned  as  Secretary. 
Lucius  J.  Hendee  elected  Secretary. 

1862 
August  26.     President  Edwin  G.  Ripley  died. 
Thomas  A.  Alexander  elected  President. 
Henry  Z.  Pratt  elected  Vice-President. 

1863 
August  31.     Vice-President  Henry  Z.  Pratt  died. 
October  7.     Jonathan  Goodwin,  Jr.,  elected  Assistant  Secretary. 

1864 
January  15.     Charter  of  Company  amended  to  permit  increase  of  $500,000  in 

capital  stock. 
February  9.     Stockholders  voted  to  increase  stock  from  $1,500,000  to  $2,250,000 

to  be  paid  for  out  of  surplus  and  distributed  as  a  stock  dividend. 

1865 
Close  of  Civil  War  and  re-opening  of  agencies  in  the  South. 

October  12.     President  Thomas  A.  Alexander  resigned  on  account  of  ill  health, 
but  no  action  was  taken  on  his  resignation. 

December  15.     Jonathan  Goodwin,  Jr.,  resigned  as  Assistant  Secretary  and  later 
became  local  agent  of  the  Company  at  Chicago. 

1866 
February    4.      Voted    stock    dividend    of  $750,000,    thus    increasing    capital    of 

Company  from  $2,250,000  to  $3,000,000. 
March  29.     President  Thomas  A.  Alexander  died. 

Lucius  J.  Hendee  elected  President. 

Jotham  Goodnow  of  New  Haven,  elected  Secretary. 
June  7.     Voted  to  ask  Legislature  to  amend  charter  to  permit  increase  in  capital 

stock  from  $3,000,000  to  $5,000,000  (no   action   taken   by  Legislature  until 

1877). 
August  15.     E.  J.  Bassett,  special  agent  of  Company,  visited  San  Francisco  and 
established  Pacific  branch  of  the  ^.tna. 

Fire  at  Portland,  Maine,  cost  ^tna  $170,000. 


[243] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

1867 
November  30.     William  B.  Clark  elected  Assistant  Secretary. 

In  this  year  the  ^tna  moved  from  its  old  offices  at  S3  State  Street  to  new 

office  building  on  Main  Street. 
Fire  this  year  at  Vicksburg,  Mississippi,  cost  Jitna  $110,000. 

1871 
October  8.     Great  Chicago  fire.    Etna's  loss  $3,782,000. 

November  9.  To  meet  losses  of  Chicago  fire  the  ALtna.  reduced  its  capital  stock 
to  $1,500,000  and  then  sold  $1,500,000  new  stock. 

1872 
November.     Great  Boston  fire.    ^Etna's  loss  $1,604,000. 
December  30.     To  meet  losses  at  Boston  the  Company  again  reduced  its  capita. 

this  time  to  the  extent  of  $1,000,000  and  issued  new  stock  to  that  amount, 

thus  again  restoring  the  capital  to  $3,000,000. 

Fire  at  Chicago,  Illinois.     Etna's  loss  $95,000. 

1877       .  ... 

February  14.  Charter  amended  authorizing  increase  of  capital  from  $3,000,000 
to  $5,000,000  and  repealing  part  of  Section  6  of  original  charter  limiting 
voting  power  of  stockholders. 

1878 
Fire  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick.     Etna's  loss  $262,000. 

1881 
March  i.     Charter  amended  authorizing  Company  to  accept  risks  against  loss  or 

damage  by  fire  caused  by  lightning  and  other  elements  of  nature. 
June  2.     Voted  to  increase  capital  from  $3,000,000  to  $4,000,000. 

.   1883 
J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  son  of  Junius  Spencer  Morgan  and  grandson  of  Joseph 
Morgan,  elected  Director.    He  continued  to  serve  until  his  death  in  1913. 

1886 
February  24.     Amended  charter  to  permit  change  in  date  of  annual  meeting  from 
June  to  third  Tuesday  of  January. 

1888  _ 
September  4.     President  Lucius  J.  Hendee  died. 
September  26.     Jotham  Goodnow  elected  President. 

William  B.  Clark  elected  Vice-President. 

Andrew  C.  Bayne  elected  Secretary. 

James  F.  Dudley  and  William  H.  King  elected  Assistant  Secretaries. 

1889 

February  13.     Rescinded  resolution  adopted  in  1841  refusing  risks  on  distilleries, 

theaters,  etc. 

Voted  financial  relief  for  Johnstown  flood  sufferers. 

September  25.     Voted  to  re-establish   agencies  in  New  Hampshire,  from  which 

state,  the  Company,  with  many  others,  had  withdrawn  four  years  before. 

1890 
Divided  Western  Branch  of  Company  and  opened  Northwestern  Branch  with 
headquarters  at  Omaha,  Nebraska. 

[244] 


APPENDIX  II 


1891 
Closed  Marine  Branch  at  Buffalo  and  opened  Marine  Branch  offices  at  Chicago 
and  New  York  City. 

1892 
November  21.     President  Jotham  Goodnow  died. 
November  30.     William  B.  Clark  elected  President. 
December  7.     Andrew  C.  Bayne  elected  Vice-President. 
James  F.  Dudley  elected  Secretary. 

E.  O.  Weeks  elected  Assistant  Secretary. 

Voted  to  participate  in  insurance  exhibition  at  World's  Fair,  Chicago. 

1893 
June  7.     Voted  to  confine  fire  business  of  Company  to  America  and  Canada  and 

British-American  provinces. 
September  6.     Voted  to  enter  into  re-insurance  treaty  with  Munich  Re-insurance 

Company. 
October  14.     Vice-President  Andrew  C.  Bayne  died. 
October  18.     James  F.  Dudley  elected  Vice-President. 

William  H.  King  elected  Secretary. 

F.  W.  Jenness  elected  Assistant  Secretary. 

1896 
February  19.     Authorized  purchase  of  Conklin  property  on  Main  Street  to  provide 

additional  land  for  new  office  building. 
July  I.     Assistant  Secretary  F.  W.  Jenness  resigned. 

March  19.     Vice-President  James  F.  Dudley  died. 

E.  O.  Weeks  elected  Vice-President. 
April  7.     Henry  E.  Rees  and  Alexander  C.  Adams  elected  Assistant  Secretaries. 

1898 
April  25.     Voted  to  guarantee  salaries  and  positions  of  ^tna  employees  enlisting 
for  service  in  the  War  with  Spain. 
Ottawa,  Canada,  fire.     Etna's  loss  ^198,000. 

1 901 
Fire  at  Jacksonville,  Florida.    Etna's  loss  1 168,000. 

1902 
June  18.     Voted  to  erect  new  office  building. 
October  31.     Vice-President  E.  O.  Weeks  died. 

November  5.     Voted  to  sell  /Etna  building  at  413  Vine  Street,  Cincinnati. 
December  3.     Approved  plans  for  new  office  building  at  Hartford. 

Dr.  C.  J.  Irvin  and  Almeron  N.  Williams  elected  Assistant  Secretaries. 

^903 
April  24.     Rented  offices  in  Connecticut  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Building  pending 
erection  of  new  /Etna  building. 

1904 
February  7.     Great  Baltimore  fire.     Etna's  loss  $727,000. 
Fire  at  Toronto,  Canada.    Etna's  loss  3i 81,000. 

1905 
Moved  into  new  office  building  on  Main  Street  (still  occupied). 


[245] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 

1906 
April  18.     San  Francisco  earthquake  and  fire.    Etna's  net  loss  $2,983,000. 
September   10.     Board  of  Directors   adopted   resolution   commending   President 
Clark  for  wise  handling  of  affairs  in  connection  with  San  Francisco  disaster. 

1907 
March   26.     Charter  amended   authorizing   Company   to   enter   the   business  of 

ocean  marine  insurance. 
October   14.     President  Clark  reported   total  losses  of  San   Francisco  fire   and 

announced  that  all  losses  had  been  paid  and  all  loans  repaid. 
May  6.     William  H.  King  elected  Vice-President. 
Henry  E.  Rees  elected  Secretary. 

Edgar  J.  Sloan,  Guy  E.  Beardsley  and  E.  S.  Allen  elected  Assistant  Secre- 
taries. 

1908 
April  12.     Fire  at  Chelsea,  Massachusetts.    ^Etna  loss  55165,640. 

^909 
January  13.     William  F.  Whittelsey  elected  Marine  Assistant  Secretary. 
January  I4.     Voted  to  embark  in  business  of  ocean  marine  insurance. 
March  30.     Charter  amended  to  permit  Company  to  write  automobile  insurance. 
November  22.     Voted  to  increase  capital  from  $4,000,000  to  $5,000,000. 

1911 
March  11.     Charter  amended  to  permit  increase  in  capital  from  $5,000,000  to 
$10,000,000. 

1912 
January  25.      William  F.  Whittelsey  elected  Marine  Secretary. 
February  16.     Vice-President  William  H.  King  died. 

April  24.     Henry  E.  Rees  and  Almeron  N.  Williams  elected  Vice-Presidents. 
Edgar  J.  Sloan  elected  Secretary. 
Ralph  B.  Ives  elected  Assistant  Secretary. 

1913 
March  31.     Death  of  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  Director,  at  Rome. 

'914 
January  28.     Election  ot  J.  P.  Morgan,  Jr.,  as  Director,  he  being  the  fourth  genera- 
tion of  Morgans  to  serve  on  the  iEtna  directorate. 

1915 
June  14.     Rearranged  treaty  with  Munich  Reinsurance  Company  because  of  the 
Great  War. 

1916 
January    i.     President   Clark   announced   beginning   of  the  ^tna   Fire   Under- 
writers' Agency. 
July  10.     Voted  to  continue  salaries  and  hold  positions  for  ^Etna  employees  who 
enlisted  (account  of  threatened  war  with  Mexico). 

1917 
January  31.     William  F.  Whittelsey  elected  Marine  Vice-President. 

Raymond  E.  Stronach  elected  Marine  Secretary. 
April  16.     Voted  authority  to  officers  to  issue  policies  against  hazards  of  war, 

such  as  explosions,  etc. 
June  20.     Voted  contribution  to  Red  Cross. 
December  i.     Officers  and  Directors  gave  dinner  in  celebration  of  President  Clark's 

fiftieth  anniversary  as  an  officer  of  the  ^tna. 

I  246] 


APPENDIX  II 


December  lo.     Adopted  resolution  notifying  i'Ktna  employees   called  to  military 

or  naval  service  of  the  United  States  that  their  salaries    would  be  continued 

and  places  held  for  them. 

1918 
January  26.     Voted   to  change  Directors'  meetings   from   Monday  to  Saturday 

on  account  of  national  "Goalless  Mondays." 
May  2.     Voted  contribution  to  Red  Cross. 
November  11.     Voted  contribution  for  United  War  Work  campaign. 

Vote  of  gratitude  to  /Etna  employees  who  served  in   the  military  or  naval 
forces  of  the  United  States  or  Canada  during  the  Great  War. 

1919 
June  5.     One  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  signing  of  the  /i^tna  Insurance  Company's 

Charter. 
June  15.     One  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  organization  of  the  /tltna  Insurance 

Company. 


247 


APPENDIX  III 


ORIGINAL  STOCKHOLDERS  OF  THE  .ETNA  INSURANCE  COMPANY, 


1819 


Name 


Number 
Shares 


Eliphalet  Averill, 50 

Chester  and  W.  Andross,       ...     8 
Thomas  K.  Brace,  ....   69 

Judah  Bliss, 50 

Horace  Barber, 20 

Horace  Belden, 10 

Frederick  Bange, 43 

Olmsted  Bulkley, 7 

Charles  Babcock, 12 

Nathaniel  Bunce, 12 

Thomas  Belden, 50 

Elisha  B.  Cook, 5 

Elisha  Colt, 10 

Merrit  W.  Chapin, 10 

Jesse  Charlton, 5 

H.  and  S.  Chaffee, 12 

Elisha  and  William  Dodd,     ...    13 

David  Deming, 5 

Henry  L.  Ellsworth, 40 

Timothy  Ellsworth, 12 

Eli  Ely, 12 

Asa  Farwell, 8 

Edmund  Fowler,  10 

Edmund  Freeman, 5 

James  M.  Goodwin, 20 

Alva  Oilman, 12 

Thomas  D.  Gordon, 12 

Joseph  B.  Gilbert, 12 

Daniel  Gillett,  Jr., 10 

Erastus  Graves, 30 

Hall  and  Green, 30 

Joel  Holkins, 30 

John  Hall, 30 

John  Hcmpsted, 5 

Joseph  Harris, 5 

Henry  Kilbourn, 62 

John  Kelsey, 10 

Sam  and  William  Kellogg,     ...    10 
Gaius  Lyman, 50 


Name 


Number 
Shares 


Heman  Laflin, 10 

John  Mather, 10 

Return  S.  Mather, 10 

Denison  Morgan, 10 

Joseph  Morgan, 12 

Nathan  Morgan, 12 

Dwell  Morgan, 20 

Ralph  R.  Phelps, 5 

Caleb  Pond, 56 

Theodore  Pease  &  Co.,    ....   10 

Daniel  Pitkin, 10 

Joseph  Pratt, 50 

Isaac  Perkins, 10 

Wanton  Ransom, 12 

Riley  and  Brown, 50 

Benjamin  and  M.  Stebbins,  ...   20 

Jesse  Savage, 20 

Luther  Savage, 12 

Asahel  Saunders, 12 

Henry  Seymour, 10 

Spencer  and  Oilman,        .      .      .      .    lo 

Levi  Stewart, 8 

Griffin  Stedman, 19 

Henry  Shepard, 12 

Israel  Shepard, 12 

Charles  Sheldon, 10 

Elisha  Shepard, 12 

Christopher  Saunders  &  Co.,      .      .  39 

George  Smith, 12 

Normand  Smith, 12 

Samuel  Tudor,  Jr., 50 

Deodat  Woodbridge, 10 

Lemuel  White, 12 

Thomas  Williams, 10 

Ward  Woodbridge, 50 

Elijah  White, 20 

Thomas  S.  Williams, 20 

John  Waburton, 6 

Eunice  White,  Jr., 9 


[248] 


APPENDIX  IV 

DIRECTORS  OF  THE  ^TNA  INSURANCE  COMPANY 
FROM  1819  TO  1919 

It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company  had  had 
exactly  one  hundred  Directors  in  the  one  hundred  years  of  its  life  when  it  celebrated 
its  Centennial  Anniversary  in  June,  1919.  Of  these,  twenty-five  had  served  for 
twenty-five  years  or  longer. 

The  following  list  contains  the  names  and  terms  of  service  of  all  Directors  of 
the  Company  from  1819  to  1919.  The  dates  opposite  their  names  indicate  the 
years  in  which  they  were  first  and  last  elected,  except  in  the  case  of  those  now 
serving. 

Thomas  K.  Brace, 1 819-1 860 

Thomas  Belden, 1819-1841 

Samuel  Tudor,  Jr., 1819-1861 

Henry  Kilbourne, 1819-184I 

Eliphalet  Averill, 1819-1820 

Henry  Seymour, 1819-1821 

Griffin  Stedman, 1819-1846 

Gaius  Lyman, 1819-1821 

Judah  Bliss, 1819-1821 

Caleb  Pond 1 819-1820 

Nathaniel  Bunce, 1819-1820 

Joseph  Morgan, 1 819-1847 

Jeremiah  Brown, 1 819-1820 

Elisha  Dodd, 18 19-1840 

Theodore  Pease, 1819- 

Charles  Babcock, 1819-1828 

Henry  L.  Ellsworth, 1819-1836 

James  M.  Goodwin, 1819-1836 

Christopher  Saunders, 1820-1829 

Isaac  Perkins, 1 820-1 827 

Jesse  Savage, 1821-1843 

Joseph  B.  Gilbert, 1821,1827-1829 

Joseph  L.  Pratt, 1821-1851 

George  Beach,    1821 -1837 

Nathan  Morgan, 1821-1824 

Thomas  S.  Williams, 1822-1825 

Oliver  D.  Cook, 1825,1828-1832 

Stephen  Spencer, 1826-1 840 

D.  F.  Mercer, 1826-1827 

James  Thomas, 1828-1849 

Dennison  Morgan, 1828-1835 

Dudley  Buck, 1830- 

Haynes  L.  Porter, 1830- 

Elisha  Peck, 1831-1842 

Daniel  Burgess, 1 831 -1840 

[249] 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  FIRE  INSURANCE 


Ward  Woodbridge, 

Joseph  Church, 

Horatio  Alden, 

Ebenezer  Seeley, 

Silas  B.  Hamilton, 

Frederick  Tyler, 

Robert  Buell, 

Samuel  Boughton, 

Whitehead  I.  Cornell, 

Miles  A.  Turtle, 

Ezra  White,  Jr., 

John  L.  Boswell, 

Ebenezer  Flower, 

Eliphalet  A.  Bulkeley, 

Roland  Mather, 

Edwin  G.  Ripley, 

Samuel  S.  Ward, 

Henry  Z.  Pratt, 

Austin  Dunham, 

John  W.  Seymour, 

Junius  S.  Morgan, 

Gustavus  F.  Davis, 

Drayton  Hillyer, 

Thomas  A.  Alexander, 

Walter  Keney, 

Charles  H.  Brainard, 

William  F.  Tuttle, 

George  Roberts, 

Thomas  K.  Brace,  Jr., 

Ernstus  Collins, 

Edwin  G.  Morgan, 

Lucius  J.  Hendee, 

Francis  B.  Cooley, 

William  R.  Cone, 

Henry  E.  Russell, 

Nathaniel  Shipman, 

Asa  S.  Porter, 

A.  C.  Dunham, 

James  A.  Smith,  Jr., 

Morgan  G.  Bulkeley, 

Alva  Oatman, 

J.  Pierpont  Morgan, 

Thomas  O.  Enders, 

Atwood  Collins, 

Jotham  Goodnow, 

William  B.  Clark, 

Francis  Goodwin, 

Nelson  HoUister, 

Andrew  C.  Bayne, 

Charles  E.  Gross, 

James  F.  Dudley, 

James  H.  Knight, 

George  H.  Day, 

E.  O.  Weeks, 

[250] 


833- 
834- 
837- 
838- 
839- 
841- 
841- 
841- 
842- 
842- 
843- 
844- 
845- 
846- 

847- 
847- 
847- 
848- 
850- 
851- 
852- 
853- 
854- 
854- 
855- 
857- 
859- 
861- 
861- 
863- 
864- 
866- 
867- 
870- 
872- 
876- 

877- 
878- 
880- 
880- 
883- 
883- 
884- 
884- 
889- 
889- 
890- 
890- 
892- 
893- 
894- 
895- 
896- 
898- 


856 

875 
838 
845 
850 

854 
882 
846 

844 
858 

847 
854 
866 

871 
896 
862 

879 
863 
876 

8C2 

853 
896 
908 
865 
889 
888 
895 
877 
869 

879 


904 

889 

893 
906 

883 
917 
896 

883 

913 
894 

892 


897 
893 

897 

907 
902 


APPENDIX  IV 


Charles  P.  Cooley, ^905" 

Arthur  L.  Shipman, ^907 

William  H.  King, 1908-1912 

Charles  L.  Spencer, ^^°^',„,A 

Lyman  B.  Brainerd, 1909-1916 

Charles  A.  Goodwin, ^909- 

Henrv  E.  Rees, ^913" 

A.  N.'  Williams, ^913" 

J.  P.  Morgan,  Jr., ;9i4- 

Horace  B.  Cheney, ^91?- 

JohnL.Way, '9i«- 


251] 


APPENDIX  V 

OFFICERS  OF  THE  ^TNA  INSURANCE  COMPANY  FROM  1819  TO  1919 
AND  THEIR  TERMS  OF  SERVICE 

PRESIDENTS 
Thomas  K.  Brace,  June  15,  1 819,  to  September  27,  1819, 
Henry  L.  Ellsworth,  September  27,  1819,  to  March  6,  1821. 
Thomas  K.  Brace,  March  6,  1821,  to  August  4,  1857. 
E.  G.  Ripley,  August  4,  1857,  t^o  August  26,  1862. 
Thomas  A.  Alexander,  September  10,  1862,  to  April  29,  1866. 
Lucius  J.  Hendee,  March  4,  1866,  to  September  4,  1888. 
Jotham  Goodnow,  September  26,  1888,  to  November  21,  1892. 
William  B.  Clark.  November  30,  1892,  to  date. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS 

E.  A.  Bulkeley,  June  5,  1851,  to  June  13,  1853. 

Edwin  G.  Ripley,  June  8,  1854,  to  August  4,  1857. 

Thomas  A.  Alexander,  August  4,  1857,  to  September  10,  1862. 

Henry  Z.  Pratt,  September  10,  1862,  to  August  31,  1863. 

William  B.  Clark,  September  26,  1888,  to  November  30,  1892. 

Andrew  C.  Bayne,  December  7,  1892,  to  October  14,  1893. 

James  F.  Dudley,  October  18,  1893,  to  March  19,  1897. 

E.  O.  Weeks,  April  7,  1897,  to  October  31,  1902. 

W.  H.  King,  May  6,  1907,  to  February  16,  191 2. 

Henry  E.  Rees,  April  24,  191 2,  to  date. 

A.  N.  Williams,  April  24,  191 2,  to  date. 

MARINE  VICE-PRESIDENT 

William  F.  Whittelsey,  January  31,  191 7,  to  date. 

SECRETARIES 

Isaac  Perkins,  June  15,  18 19,  to  June  9,  1828. 
James  M.  Goodwin,  June  9,  1828,  to  May  i,  1837. 
Simeon  L.  Loomis,  May  i,  1837,  to  June  13,  1853. 
Edwin  G.  Ripley,  June  13,  1853,  to  June  8,  1854. 
Thomas  A.  Alexander,  June  8,  1854,  to  August  4,  1857. 
Thomas  K.  Brace,  Jr.,  August  4,  1857,  to  July  3,  1861. 
Lucius  J.  Hendee,  July  3,  1861,  to  March  4,  1866. 
Jotham  Goodnow,  April  18,  1866,  to  September  26,  1888. 
Andrew  C.  Bayne,  September  26,  1888,  to  December  7,  1892. 
James  F.  Dudley,  December  7,  1892,  to  October  18,  1893. 
William  H.  King,  October  18,  1893,  to  May  6,  1907, 
Henry  E.  Rees,  May  6,  1907,  to  April  24,  191 2. 
Edgar  J.  Sloan,  April  24,  1912,  to  date. 

[252] 


APPENDIX  V 


MARINE  SECRETARIES 
William  F.  Whittelsey,  January  25,  1912,  to  January  31,  1917. 
R.  E.  Stronach,  January  31,  1917,  to  date. 

ASSISTANT  SECRETARIES 


James  b.  Dudley,  September  26,  1888,  to  December  7,  1892 
William  H.  King,  September  26,  1888,  to  October  18,  1893, 

E.  O.  Weeks,  December  7,  1892,  to  April  7,  1897. 

F.  W.  Jenness,  October  18,  1893,  to  July  i,  1896. 
A.  C.  Adams,  April  7,  1897,  to  April  7,  1907. 
Henry  E.  Rees,  April  17,  1897,  to  May  6,  1907. 
C.  J.  Irvin,  December  3,  1902,  to  June  12,  1905. 

A.  N.  Williams,  December  3,  1902,  to  April  24,  1912. 

Edgar  J.  Sloan,  May  6,  1907,  to  April  24,  191 2. 

E.  S.  Allen,  May  6,  1907,  to  date. 

Guy  E.  Beardsley,  May  6,  1907,  to  date. 

Ralph  B.  Ives,  April  24,  191 2,  to  date. 

MARINE  ASSISTANT  SECRETARIES 
William  F.  Whittelsey,  January  13,  1908,  to  January  25,  1912. 


1^53] 


APPENDIX   VI 


LOSSES  PAID  BY  THE  ^TNA  INSURANCE  COMPANY 
IN  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS 

During  its  first  century  of  existence  the  ^tna  Insurance  Company  has  paid 
out  over  ^178,000,000  in  losses.  Of  this  amount  more  than  ^156,000,000  represents 
payments  for  fire  losses,  the  difference  being  for  marine,  automobile  and  other 
risks.    There  were  no  losses  until  1821,  two  years  after  the  Company  was  organized. 

The  following  table  shows  the  losses  of  the  ^tna  by  years  for  the  first  ttn 
years  and  for  each  decade  thereafter: 


LOSSES 


Years 
1819 
1820 
1821 
1822 
1823 
1824 
1825 
1826 
1827 
1828 
1829-38 
1839-48 
1849-58 
1859-68 
1869-78 
1879-88 
1889-98 
1899-08 
"1909-18 


Totals 

Grand  Total,  1174,703,814. 


Fire 

Marine,  etc. 

0 

0 

0 

0 

4,032 

0 

5,333 

0 

4,071 

0 

21,843 

0 

22,695 

0 

41,639 

0 

59,622 

0 

104,349 

0 

986,207 

0 

2,608,598 

$       95,154 

7,196,408 

745,096 

11,064,996 

1,429,410 

23,817,791 

1,598,718 

12,524,289 

716,232 

19,046,981 

1,104,285 

30,526,204 

2,074,217 

48,166,027 

10,739,617 

156,201,085 

118,502,729 

*  To  December  31,  1918.  The  total  losses  paid  from  December  31,  1918, 
to  June  15,  1919,  are  in  excess  of  ^3,000,000,  bringing  the  grand  total  of  loss  pay- 
ments for  the  century  to  more  than  ^178,000,000. 


[254] 


INDEX 


Adams,   Alexander  C,   assistant  secretary, 

•31 

iEtna  Insurance  Company,  act  to  incor- 
porate, 31,  32 

adds  a  Life  Insurance  department,  93 

applies  for  permission  to  do  inland  marine 
and  navigation  business,  63,  81 

at  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion,  loi 

capital  stock,  how  secured,  53 

capital  stock,  increased,  61,  89,  99,  105, 
108,  121,  143 

capital  stock,  reduced,  117,  120 

Charter,  with  amendments.  Appendix  I, 
231-238 

Directors  of,  1819  to  1919,  Appendix  IV, 
249 

first  advertisement  of,  34 

first  agents,  46,  155,  166,  167 

first  Canadian  agent,  160 

first  crisis  in  affairs,  65 

first  Directors,  35,  36,  37,  38 

first  disputed  claim,  59,  60 

first  insurance  watch,  47 

first  investment  of  capital,  41 

first  loss,  55 

first  manual  for  agents,  45 

first  office  of,  40 

first  policy,  42 

first  quarter-century,  83 

first  reinsurance,  46 

first  seal,  38 

first  six  months'  business,  48 

first  special  agent,  158 

first  stockholders.  Appendix  III,  248 

first  subscriptions  to  its  capital,  34 

in  the  Great  War,  220-223 

limit  of  risk  $10,000,  51 

losses  paid,    1819  to   1919,  Appendix  VI, 

254 

Marine  Department,  210-217 

moves  to  53  State  Street,  76 
to  670  Main  Street,  108 
to  new  building,  136 

Northwestern  Branch,  183,  184,  187 

officials  of,  1819  to  1919,  Appendix  V,  252 

Pacific  Branch,  188-197 

past  and  present  of  the  Company, 224-230 

policy  on  Yale  College,  63 

reinsures  Middletown  Insurance  Com- 
pany, 46 

terms  of  subscription  to  the  stock  of,  33 

Western  Branch,  176-187 
^tna  Life  Insurance  Company,  93 
African  Colonization  Society,  20 
Agents  established  over  wide  territory,  58, 

59 

Agents,  the  Company's,  149-175 

Alabama,  first  jEtna  agent  in,  166 

Albany,  New  York,  first  ^tna  agent,    156, 

157,  166 
Alden,  Horatio,  agent  Augusta,  Georgia,  166 


Algiers,  war  with,  19 

Alexander,  James  A.,  New  York  City  Agent, 
120 

Manager  (1872),  173 
Alexander,  'Thomas  A.,   107,   120,   171,   173, 
202 

New  York  City  Agent  (1845),  87,  172 

Secretary  (1854),  97 

Vice-President  (18571,  100,  104 

President  (1862),  104 

death  (1866),  106 
Allen,  Edwin  S.,  assistant  secretary,  141,  142 
America,  first  Savings  Bank  in,  19 
American  Agency  System,  175 
"Amicable       Contributionship,"        London 

(1696),  8 
Anthracite  coal,  first  used,  22 
Anti-compact  laws,  203-205 
Arabic,  loss  of  the  (1915),  221 
Ashford,  Connecticut,  first  ^tna  agent,   156 
Augusta,  Georgia,  first  JEtna.  agent,  166 
Averill,    Augustin,    agent    Cheraw,    S.     C. 

(1821),  167,  172 
Avenll,  Eliphalet,  Director,  36,  37,  69 


Babcock,  Charles,  Director,  36,  38 

on  Lafayette  Committee,  63 
Baldwin,   Herman,   agent,    Richmond,    Va., 

164 
Baltimore,  first  ^tna  agent,  166 

great  fire  of  1904,  137 
Bang,   Frederick,  second  policy-holder,     42 
Bank,  first  savings  bank  in  America,  19 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  19,  21,  41,  65 
Barbon,  Nicholas,  first  insurer  in  England,  6 
Bassett,  E.  J.,  113,  114,  115,  116,  127,  189 

General  Agent,  165,  188 
Bates,     Isaac     C,     Agent,     Northampton, 

Mass.,  156 
Battle  of  Lake  Erie,  21 
Bayne,  A.  C,  Secretary  (1888),  125 
Vice-President  (1892),  128 
death  (1893),  130 
Beals,  Thomas,  Agent,  156 
Beardsley,    Guy    E.,     Assistant      Secretary 

(1907),  141-143 
Beardsley    &   Beardsley,   agents,   Hartford, 

167 
Beckley,  Orin,  Agent,  156 
Belden,  Thomas,  Director,  37 
Bennett,    F.    C,     General   Agent    Western 

Branch,  178,  182,  185 
Bennett,  Joseph  B.,   General  Agent  Western 

Branch,    154,    167,    168,    175,    176,    178, 

179,  180,  181,  182,  202 
Bigelow,  Abijah,  first  Canadian  Agent,  160 
Bliss,  Judah,  Director,  37 
Blount,  Sir  John,  11 
Boardman,     George     C,     General     Agent 

Pacific  Branch,  190,  191,  193,   194 


[255] 


INDEX 


Boat  building,  24 

Boston,    Massachusetts,    first  jEtna   agent, 

166 
Boston  fire  (1872),  119 
Boswell,  John  L.,  Director,  93 
Botsford  &  Bairs,  169 
Bowers,  Osborne  &  Co.,  agents  New  Orleans 

(1823),  166 
Brace,  Jonathan,  29 

Brace,   Thomas   K.,   29,   30,   34,   35,   36,  43, 
49.   54.   57,   59.    66,   67,    78,    79,    80,    81, 
86,  87,  96,  99,  100,  104,  224,  226,  228, 
229 
first  President,  36 
resigns,  36 
signature,  50 

second  President,  54,  66,  78 
death  (i860),  99 
Brace,   Thomas   K.,  Jr.,   Secretary    (1857), 
100,  103,  107 
death  (1870),  100 
Brainard,  Charles  H.,  Director,  226 
Breeding,     William     H.,     General     Agent 

Pacific  Branch,  195,  196 
Brown,  Jeremiah,  Director,  38 
Buell,  Robert,  Director,  93,  226 
Bulkeley,  Eliphalet  A.,  92,  93,  94,  226 
Vice-President  (1850).  93 
President  .(Etna  Life  Insurance  Co.,  94 
Bulkeley,  Hon.  Morgan  G.,  President  ^tna 

Life  Insurance  Company,  94.  226 
Bunce,  Nathaniel,  Director,  38 


California,  first  .i^tna  agent  in,  166 
Canada,  159-162 

first  .(Etna  agent  in,  59,  160 

first  American  Company  in,  160 
Canandaigua,  New  York,  first  JEtna  agent, 

156,  163 
Canned  goods,  first,  22 
Capital  stock, 

increased,  61,  89,  99,  105,  108,  121,  143 

reduced,  117,  120 

authorized,  143 
Carter,  James  H.,  agent  at  Cincinnati,  168 
Caution  in  proceeding,  57 
Charter,    the    original    with    amendments, 
Appendi.K  I,  231-238 

petition  for,  31,  32 
Cheney,  H.  B.,  Director,  227 
Cheraw,  South  Carolina,  first  .(Etna  agent, 

.167        .     . 
Chicago,  Illinois,  first  JEtna  agent,  166,  169 
Chicago  a  "Wooden  City"  (1842),  168-169 
Chicago  Fire  (1871),  112 

first  claim  paid,  115 

losses  promptly  paid,  194 
Chillicothe  fire  (1852),  95 
Chronological      history      of      the      .(Etna, 

Appendix  II,  239-248 
Church,  Joseph,  Director,  226 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  first  .(Etna  agent,  163 
Clark,  William  B.,  109,  126,  127,   130,  133, 
134.  135.   136.  137.   140.  141.   144.   145. 
146,  147,   148,  174,   184,  185,   186,  192, 
193.   194.   195.  213,  220,  226,  229,  230 

Assistant  Secretary  (1867),  108,  113 

Secretary  of  Phoenix,  1 10 

Vice-President  (1888),  125,  128 

President  (1892),  128-148,  192-197 
Clay,  Henry,  18,  20 


Cleveland,  Ohio,  first  ^tna  agent,  163,  166 

Coast  Survey  begun,  22 

Coffee  House  an  institution,  26 

Cohen,  Isaac,  agent  Savannah,  Georgia,  172 

Cole,  Henry  S.,  agent  Detroit,  163,  166 

Collins,  Atwood,  Director,  236 

Colt,  Ezekiel  R.,  agent,  156 

Colt,  Ezra,  town  clerk,  49 

Columbian  Insurance  Co.  of  New  York,  13 

Company    lived    through    many    conflagra- 
tions, 137 

Company's  records,  57 

Connecticut,  early  underwriting  in,  14 
first  .(Etna  agent,  156,  158,  166 
oldest  insurance  company  in,  15 

Connecticut  legislation,  first,  206 

Converse,  Alexander  B.,  agent,  156 

Cooley,  Charles  P.,  Diiector,  227 

Cooley,  Francis  B.,  Director,  226 

Coolidge,  Charles  D.,  agent  Boston,  166 

Cotton  mill,  erection  of  first,  22 

Country  produce  marketed,  22 

Courant,  Hartford,  32 

Cowles,  Samuel,  agent  Cleveland,  163,  166 

Crittenden,  John  J.,  21 

Crosby,  James,  agent  ZanesviUe,  Ohio,  1 63 

Curd,  Richard,  agent  Macon,  Georgia,  102 

Daingerfield,  H.  A.,  agent  Natchez,  Missis- 
sippi, 166 
Davis,  Gustavus  F.,  Director,  226 
Day,  Isaac  F.,  116 

Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum,  Hartford,  30 
Deaf  mutes,  first  school  for  in  U.  S.,  22 
Detroit,    Michigan,  first  ./Etna  agent,   163, 

166 
Development  of  the  U.  S.,  22 
Dickenson,  Edward,  agent  New  York  City 

(1826),  166 
Dickinson,     Leonard    A.,    agent    Hartford, 

166,  167 
Dickerson,  Philemon,  agent  Paterson,  N.  J., 

(1821)  166 
Directors,   i8ig  to  1919,  Appendix  IV,  249 
Directors'  banquet,  73 
Distilleries,  prohibited  risks  in  1841,  82 
District  of  Columbia,  first  ./Etna  agent,  166 
Dividends,  first,  49 
second  and  third,  52 
special,  77,  91 
Dodd,  Elisha,  Director,  31 
Dorr,  Captain  E.  P.,  marine  agent,  Buffalo, 

212 
Drake,  John  B.,  first  claim  paid  in  Chicago 

fire,  115 
Dudley,     James     F.,     Assistant     Secretary 

(1888),  125 
Secretary  (1892),  129 
Vice-President  (1893),  130,  213 
death  (1897),  130 
Dunham,  Austin,  Director,  226 
Dunham,  A.  C,  Director,  226 
Durbrow,  Harry,   Marine  Assistant  General 

Agent,  Pacific  Branch,  196 

Eagle  Bank  of  Providence,  stock  sold,  66 
Eagle  Fire  Insurance  Co.  of  New  York,  13 
Ellsworth,  Henry  L.,  42,  44,  54,  63.  66 

second  President,  44 

death,  45 

director,  66 


[256] 


INDEX 


Ellsworth,  Oliver,  44 

Ellsworth,  William  W.,  44.  45 

Ely,  John,  Jr.,  aRcnt  Albany,  156,  166 

Empress  of  Ireland,  wreck  of  the  (1914)1  215 

"Era  of  Good  Feeling,"  20 


Gross,    Charles    E.,    Director   and    General 

Counsel,  135,  136,  226,  227 
Guide  to  Fire  Insurance  (Bennett),  154 
Culfliiht,  loss  of  the  (1915).  222 
Gunther,  Count  Anton,  5 


Fayetteville,  N.  C,  first  JEtnn  agent,  166 

Firebricks  first  made,  56 

Fire  department  equipments,  48 

Fire  Insurance,  ancient,  3,  4 

"Fire  Office,"  London  (1680),  6 

Fireplaces  and  stoves,  57 

Fitzhugh,  Samuel  H.,  agent  Wheeling,  W. 

Va.,  167 
Flint,  O.  T.,  Marine  Agent,  Buffalo,  212 
"Foreign"  Companies,  taxed,  75 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  13 
"Friendly  Society,"  London,  7 

Gadsden,  James  S.,  Chicago  agent,  113,  170, 

186,  212 
Gale,  Stephen  F.,  169 

Gallagher,  Thomas     E.,     General      Agent 
Western    Branch,    Chicago,    144,    184, 
185,  186,  187,  212 
Gas-lighting,  first,  22 
General  Agents,  first,  163.  i75 
Georgia,  first  JEtna.  agent,  166 
Goodenough,  Asa,  27 
Goodman,   Timothy   S.,    agent   Cincinnati, 

Ohio,  163,  167 
Goodman,  William,   Cincinnati,   Ohio,   163, 

168 
Goodnow,  Jotham,  Secretary   (1866),    107, 
III 

President  (1888),  124,  125 

death  (1892),  127 
Goodwin,  Charles  A.,  Director,  71,  227 
Goodwin,   Rev.    Dr.   Francis,  Director,   71, 

135.  136,  146,  226,  227 
Goodwin,  James,  71,  90 

Goodwin,  James  M.,  38,  52.  63,  68,  71,  74. 
76,  78,  103,  164,  200 

on  Lafayette  Committee,  63 

Secretary,  71 

resigns  (1837),  78 
Goodwin,    Jonathan,    Jr.,    Chicago    agent 

(1871),  98,  113,  120,  165,  170 
Great  fires  at 

Baltimore,  137 

Boston,  119 

Chillicothe,  95 

Chicago,  112 

Jacksonville,  133 

London, 5 

Montreal,  95 

Ottawa,  133 

Portland,  123 

Rochester,  137 

St.  John,  N.  B.,  123 

St.  Johns,  N.  F.,  89 

St.  Louis,  91 

San  Francisco,  138 

Toronto,  137 

Vicksburg,  123 
Great  Lakes,  marine  risks  on,  212 
Great  War,  during  the,  220-223 
Greenfield,  Mass.,  first  jEtna  agent,  155,  166 
Gregory,  Attorney  General,  21 
Griswold     &    Follett,    agents     Burlington, 
Vermont,  156 


Halifax,  N.  S.,  first  iEtna  agent,  161 
Hall,   George  W.,  agent  Brattleboro,   Ver- 
mont, 156 
Hall    &    Green,    agents    Rockingham,    Vt., 

156,  167 
Hamilton,  S.  B.,  special  agent,  165 
"Hand-in-Hand  Company,"  London,  8 

Philadelphia,  13 
Harford,  W.  B.,  Assistant  General  Agent, 

184,  187 
Hartford  Convention  of  18 14,  18 
Hartford  Fire  Insurance  Company,  15,  47 
Hartford  newspapers,  25 
Hartford  population,  25 
Hartford  trade,  23-25 
Hartford     and      New     Haven     Insurance 

Company,  15  .    ^    • 

Hayes,  Henry,  agent  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  168 
Hazard,  Augustus  G.,  agent  New  York  City, 

87,  172   . 
Hendee,  Lucius  J.,  103,  107,  114,  117.  121. 

123,  124,  171,  181 
Secretary  (1861),  103 
President  (1866),  107 
death  (1888),  123 
Hilliard,  J.  C,  Special  Agent,  113,  127,  165 
Hillyer,  Drayton,  Director,  226 
Hine,  C.  C,  Special  Agent,  165 
Hubbard,  _    Gurdon     S.,     agent     Chicago, 

Illinois,  166,  169 
Hubbard  &  Hunt,  agents  Chicago,  Illinois, 

170 


Illinois,  first  ^Etna  agent,  166 

Imlay,  William  H.,  76 

Indiana,  first  .^tna  agent,  166 

Inland  Marine,  211-213 

Insane,  Retreat  for  the,  Hartford,  30 

Insurance  agent,  his  field,  etc.,  150-155 

Insurance  displaces  pension  system,  20 

Insurance  Magazine,  74 

Insurance,  primitive,  3 

Irvin,  Dr.  C.  J.,  Assistant  Secretary,  133- 

135 
Ives,  Ralph  B.,  Assistant  Secretary,  144,  187 


Jacksonville,  great  fire  of  1900,  133 
Jenness,  F.  W.,  Assistant  Secretary,  130 
Jewell,  Marshall,  114 


Keeler,    N.    E.,    General    Agent    Western 
Branch,  184-186 

Kellogg,  Samuel,  Jr.,  third  policy-holder,  42 

Kellogg,  Secretary,  no 

Keney,  Walter,  Director,  226 

Kentucky,  first  ^Etna  agent,  166 

Kerosene  oil,  first  used,  56 

Key,  Francis  S.,  18 

Kilbourne,  Henry,  Director,  37 
on  Lafayette  Committee,  63 

Kimball,  Leonard,  agent  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land, 166 


17 


[257] 


INDEX 


Kimberley,  Anson,  agent  Darien,  Georgia, 

172 
King,  Seth,  126 
King,  William  H.,  Assistant  Secretary,  126 

Secretary,  130,  136 
Kirkpatrick,  A.  M.  M.,  Chief  Agent  Canada, 

162 
Knickerbocker     Fire     Insurance     Co.,     of 

New  York,  13 
Knight,  James  H.,  Director,  135,  136,  227 
Kohtz,  Louis  O.,  Assistant  General  Agent, 

Western  Branch,  144,  170,  186,  212 


Lafayette's  visit  to  Hartford  in  1824,  62 

Lake  Erie,  Battle  of,  21 

Law  Makers  and  Insurance,  198-206 

Letters  of  Secretary  Perkins  to  agents,  51 

Letter  books,  old,  49 

Life  insurance  department,  92,  93,  94 

Lightning  Insurance,  123 

Livingston,  E.  L.,  Marine  Assistant  General 

Agent,  Pacific  Branch,  196 
"Lloyds,"  209 

"Lombard  House,"  London,  9 
London,  great  fire  of,  5 
Loomis,   Simeon  L.,   Secretary,   78,   80,   82, 

84,    86,    96,    103,    109,    no,    154,    169, 

199,  200,  210,  211 
letters,  79,  83,  88 
Lord,    Samuel,    agent,    Portsmouth,    New 

Hampshire,  166 
Losses,  only  two  cents  up  to  May  1821,  55 
Losses,  heavy  in  early  years,  81 
Losses  paid,  Appendix  VI,  254 
Louisiana,  first  ^tna  agent,  166 
Lusilania,  loss  of  the  (1915),  221 
Lyman,  Gaius,  Director,  37 
on  Lafayette  Committee,  63 


McAdoo,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  21 
Magill,   Robert  H.,   General  Agent  Pacific 

Branch,  189 
Maine,  first  JEtna  agent,  166 
Manton,  Salma,  agent  Savannah,  Georgia, 

172 
Maps,  Sanborn  System  of,  98 
Marine  risks,  great  variety  in,  219 
Marine  Underwriting,  207-219 

ancient  instances  of,  207,  209 
Maryland,  first  .^tna  agent,  166 
Massachusetts,  first  JS.\,na.  agent,  166 

legislation,   199 
Matches,  first  used,  56 
Mather,  Roland,  Director,  226 
May,  Thomas,  agent  Richmond,  Virginia, 

167 
Merchants  Bank  of  New  York,  65 
Michigan,  first  /Etna  agent,   166 
Middletown  Fire  Insurance  Company,  15 

reinsures  in  the  Mtna.,  46 
Miscellaneous  forms  of  Insurance,  218 
Mississippi,  first  ./Etna  agent,  166 
Missouri,  first  .(Etna  agent,   166 
Mitchell,  Donald  G.,  28 
Mitchell,   Walter,   Secretary   Hartford   Fire 

Insurance  Company,  28 
Mobile,  great  fire  at,  65 

losses  at,  67 
Monroe  Doctrine,  origin  of,  19 
Monroe,  James,  President,  19 


Montreal  fire,  95 

Morgan,  David,  27 

Morgan,  Isaac,  27 

Morgan,  John,  27 

Morgan,  Jonathan,  27 

Morgan,   Joseph,   Director,   26,   27,   42,   64, 

67.  70,  72,  73.  74.  77.  90.  95.   121.  146. 
165,  226 

trips,  64,  70-72 

death,  90 
Morgan,  Junius  S.,  Director,  26,  90,  95,  121 

J.  Pierpont,  27,  121,  144,  145,  226 

J.  P.,  Jr.,  122,  145,  227 
Morgan,  Lucy,  71,  90 
Morgan,  Miles,  27 
Morgan,  Nathaniel,  27 
Morgan's  Exchange  Coffee  House,  26,  27 
Morris,  Benjamin  W.,  architect,  136 
Morrison,  Edwin  C,  General  Agent  Pacific 

Branch,  191,  192,  195 
Muldon,  Thomas,  agent  Mobile,  Alabama, 

171 

Mutual  Assurance,  Philadelphia,  13 

New  Haven,  15 
Mutual  Insurance  Company  of  New  York, 

13 

Mutual   Insurance    Company   of    Norwich, 
Connecticut,  15 


National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters,   68, 

118,  1 19 
New  building  of  the  JEtna.,  136 
New  England  democracy,  24 
New  England  in  1819,  22-25 
New  Hampshire,  first  Mtna.  agent,  166 
New  Haven,  22 

New  Haven  Fire  Insurance  Company,  16 
New  Jersey,  first  J&tna  agent,   166 
New  London,  22 

New  York,  first  JS,\n&  agent,  166 
New  York  City,    first  .(Etna  agent,  i66,  172 

great  fire  of  1835,  75 

of  1839,  81 

of  1845,  85 

payment  of  losses,  87 
New  York  Insurance  Company,  13 
New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  R.  R. 

Co.,  stock  subscribed  for,  77 
Niles*  Weekly  Register,  43 
North,    John    G.,    agent    at    New    Haven, 

Connecticut,  63 
North  Carolina,  first  Mina.  agent,  46,  156, 

166 
Northwestern  Branch,  175,  183,  184,  187 
Norwich  Fire  Insurance  Company,  15 


Ocean  steamship,  first,  22 

O'Brien,  E.  G.,  agent  Toronto,  Canada,  162 

Officers  of  the  JEina.  i8i9to  191 9,  Appendix 

V,  252 
Ohio,  first  .lEtna  agent,  166 

legislation,  200 
Ottawa,  great  fire  of  1900,  133 
Overall's  Insurance  Company,  London,  12 


Pacific  Branch,  188-197 
Pardee,  W.  I.,  special  agent,  165 
Parker,  E.  H.,  agent  San  Francisco,  Cali- 
fornia, 166,  189 


[258] 


INDEX 


Parmalee,    H.    J.,    superintendent    marine 

insurance,  N.  Y.,  212 
Pasco,  Henry  L.,  agent  Chicago,  Illinois,  113 

special  agent,  165,  170 
Past  and  Present,  224-230 
Patent  leather,  first  made,  22 
Peace  Society,  the  first,  22 
Pease,  Theodore,  Director,  38,  42 
Peasley,  J.  C,  agent  Burlington,  Iowa,  83 
Peck,    Everard,   agent   at   Rochester,    New 

York,  156 
Pennsylvania,  first  ^tna  agent,  167 
Pension  system,  20 
Perkins,  Frederick,  69 

Perkins,  Isaac,  30,  34,  36,  40,  41,  43,  45,  48, 
49.  50,  51.  52.  53.  56,  57.  58.  59.  62, 
65,  66,  69,  70,  79,  103,  154 

first  secretary,  36 

instructions  to  agents,  160 

resigns,  69 

visits  agencies,  58,  59 

death,  69 
Perkins,  Simon,  agent  at  Warren,  Ohio,  163 
Perkins,  Thomas  C,  69 
Perkins,    William    L.,    first    special    agent, 

156,  158,  166 
Perry,  Commodore  Oliver  Hazard,  21 
Pewabic,  wreck  of  the,  216 
Phelps,  Humphrey,  agent  New  York  City, 

'72        .  ... 

"Philadelphia  Contributionship,"  12,  13 
Phoenix     Bank,     Hartford,     investment     in 

stock,  41,  65 
Phoenix  Fire  of  London,  7,  162 
Phoenix  Insurance  Company  of  Hartford,  96, 

109 
"Phoenix  Office,"  London,  7 
Pioneer  of  Underwriting,  154 
Policy,  first  issued  by  .^tna,  42 
Policy,  origin  of  term,  4 
Pond,  Caleb,  Director,  37 
Poor,  Moses,  agent  Washington,  D.  C,  166 
Porcelain  manufacture,  first,  22 
Portland,  great  fire  of  1866,  123 
Postage,  early,  50 
Potter,     Charles     W.,     Assistant     General 

Agent,  184 
Povey,  Charles,  insurance  pioneer,  9 
Pratt,  Henry  Z.,  93,  125 

Vice-President,  104 
Pratt,  Joseph  L.,  Director,  226 
Prohibited  risks,  82 
Prohibition,  21,  25 

Proof  of  Loss,  first  blank  introduced,  98 
Protection  Insurance  Company  of  Hartford, 

68.  177 
Providence-Washington       Fire      Insurance 

Company,  13 
Puritan  customs,  25 


Quebec  Fire  Assurance  Company,  162 


Rand,      Daniel,      agent      at      Middletown, 

Connecticut,  156 
Ratchford,    E.    D.   W.,   agent,    161 
Rate-cutting  in  New  York,  74 
Rate-fixing,  204 
Rates,  increased,  70 
Rees,  Ebenezer  S.,  agent  Darien,  Georgia, 

172 


Rees,  Henry  E.,  131,  172,  193,  205,  227 

Assistant  Secretary  (1897),  131 

Secretary  (1907),  131 

Vice-President  (1912),  131 
Rhode  Island,  first  i^tna  agent,   167 
Richards,  Mark,  agent  Philadelphia,  Penn- 
sylvania, 167 
Richmond,  Virginia,  great  fire  at  (1839),  81 
Ripley,  Edwin  G.,  93,  96,  97,  100,  loi,  104, 
176,  188 

Secretary  (1853),  96 

Vice-President  (1854),  96 

President  (1857),  100,  loi 

death  (1862),  103 
Ripley,  Franklin,  agent  Greenfield,  Massa- 
chusetts, 155,  166 
Ripley,  Philip,  96 

Risk  of  $17,000,  largest  to  1821,  54 
Risks,  classified,  loi 
Risks,  limit  of,  51 

good  and  bad,  83 
River  craft  non-insurable,  211 
Robins,  Ephraim,  General  Agent  Protection 

Insurance  Company,  Cincinnati,  177 
Robins,  Gurdon,  agent  Fayetteville,  North 

Carolina,  46,  156,  166 
Robins,  W.  B.,  agent  Cincinnati,  168 
Rochester,  great  fire  of  1904,  137 
Rolling  mill,  erection  of  first,  22 
Russell   &  Ziegler,  agents  New  York  City, 
173 


St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  great  fire,  81,  123 
St.   Johns,    New   Foundland,   great   fire   of 

1846,  89 
St.  Louis  fire  of  1849,  91 
"Safe"  of  the  Company,  28,  51 
Salamander  Society  of  New  York,  74 
Salary  of  President  for  first  six  months,  57 
Sanborn  System  of  maps,  98 
Sanderson,    Arthur    G.,    Assistant    General 

Agent  Pacific  Branch,  192,  195 
Sanford,  Peleg,  early  insurer  in  Hartford.  14 
Sanford.      Thaddeus,      agent     at      Mobile, 

Alabama,  65,  159,  166 
San  Francisco,  earthquake  and  fire  of  1906, 

138 
first  .i^tna  agent,  166,  189 
prompt  settlement  of  losses  by  .i^tna,  194 
Saunders,    Christian,    agent    at    St.    Louis, 

Missouri,  166 
Sawyer,  Nathaniel,  agent  Chillicothe,  Ohio, 

163,  168 
School  for  deaf-mutes,  first  in  U.  S.,  22 
Schools,  district,  24 

Seldon,  Edward,  agent  Pittsburgh,  Pennsyl- 
vania, 167 
"Selling    Letters"    by    Secretary    Perkins, 

51.  62 
Seminole  War,  19 
Sering,  John,  agent  Washington,  Indiana, 

163,  166 
Settlement  of  claims  (1822),  59,  60 
Sewing  machine  invented,  22 
Seymour,  Henry,  Director,  37 
Shipman,  Arthur  L.,  Director,  227 
Shipman,  Elias,  New  Haven  insurer,  14,  15 
Shipman,  Nathaniel,  Director,  226 
Skinner,  Roger  L.,  agent  New  Haven,  156 
Slavery,  20 


[259] 


INDEX 


in. 


Sloan,  Edgar  J.,  Assistant  Secretary  (1907). 
141,  142 
Secretary,  144,  162 

Smith,  James,  agent,  163 

Society  for  Savings,  Hartford,  30 

South  Carolina,  first  ^tna  agent,  167 

Southern  Agencies,  closed,  103 

South  Sea  Bubble,  1 1 

Spanish  Influenza,  21 

Spanish  War,  132 

Special  dividends,  91 

Spencer,  Charles  L.,  Director,  227 

Spencer,  George  W.,  General  Agent  Pacific 
Branch,  191,  194 

Spencer,  Stephen,  Director,  66 

Steam  power,  first  used  in  manufactunng,  22 

Starr,  Frank  Farnsworth,  Genealogist,  72 

Starr,  John  L.,  agent,  161 

State  Bank,  Albany,  199 

Stagg,  Henry,  agent,  168 

Steamship,  first  ocean,  22 

Stedman,  Griffin,  Director,  37 

Steel-plate  engraving  invented,  22 

Stereotype  plate,  first,  22 

Stewart,  David  R.,  agent,  161 

Stockholders,    the   original.    Appendix 
248 

Stoddard,  J.   N.,  agent  Plymouth,   Massa- 
chusetts, 199 

Stonington,  Connecticut,  fire  at,  81 

Stoves  vs.  fireplaces,  57 

Street  cars,  first  in  Hartford,  71 

Stronach,  R.  E.,  Marine  Secretary,  214 

"Sun"  Fire  Office,  London,  9 

Surplus  decided  on,  67 

Talbot.  Bird  &  Co.,  agents  New  York  City, 

173  .         .  •  4.  . 

Taxation,     oppressive    in     various    states, 

200-209 
Terry,  Nathaniel,  15 
Theaters,  prohibited  risks,  82 
Thom,  Isaac,  agent  Louisville,  163,   166 
Thomas  W.   Lawson,  wreck  of  the,  216 
Tillinghast,     Stephen,     agent     Providence, 

Rhode  Island,  156,  167 
Toronto,  great  fire  of  1904,  I37 
Town-meeting,  24 
Townsend,    George    E.,    Assistant    General 

Agent,  Pacific  Branch,  196 
Treat,  Selah,  70 

Tudor,  Samuel,  Jr.,  Director,  37 
Tuttle,  Miles  A.,  Director,  93 
Tuttle,  William  F.,  Director,  226 


Underwriter,  origin  of  term,  4 

United  States  Bank,  reorganization  of,  21 


Valued  policy  legislation,  202-203 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  ^tna  policy-holder,  157 

Van    Rensselaer,    Jeremiah,    first    General 

Agent,  74,  163 
Vermont,  first  ^tna  agent,  167 
Vicksburg,  great  fire  of  1867,  123 
Virginia,  antagonism  to  foreign  companies, 
201 
first  .(Etna  agent,  167 


Wadsworth,  Daniel,  early  insurer  in  Hart- 
ford, 14 
Walton,  John,  agent,  161 
War  Clause,  103 
War  of  1812,  17,  18 

Ward,  Lauriston,  agent  Saco,  Maine,  166 
Ward,  Samuel  S.,  Director,  226 
Watkinson,  David,  29 
Way,  John  L.,  Director,  227 
Webster,  Noah,  45 

Weeks,     Egbert    O.,    Assistant    Secretary, 
129,  130,  131,  212 

Vice-President,  129 

death,  129,  213,  214 
Welles,  Alfred,  95 

West  Virginia,  first  .(Etna  agent,  167 
West  India  Islands,  23 
West  Indian  trade,  23 
Western  agents,  176 
Western  Branch,  97,  144,  162,  168,  170,  171, 

176-187 
White  House,  burning  of,  18 
Whittelsey,  Roger,  agent,  156 
Whittelsey,  W.  F.,    Marine  Assistant  Sec- 
retary, 2  13 

Marine  Secretary,  214,  221 

Marine  Vice-President,  196,  214 
Williams,  A.  A.,  Special  Agent,  165 
WiUiams,  Almeron    N.,  Assistant  Secretary 
(1902),  133 

Vice-President  (1912).  i.34.  227 
Williams,  Andrew  N.,  agent,  159 
Williams,  Thomas  S.,  42,  45 
Willmarth,  A.  F.,  Assistant  Secretary,  97 

Special  Agent,  165 
Winning  of  the  West,  176-187 
Wood,  Joseph,  agent,  156 
Woodbridge,  Ward,  29 

Wyman,  William  H.,  General  Agent,   183- 
187 


[260] 


ADDENDA 

Since  this  History  was  put  in  type  Henry  E.  Rees, 
our  Vice-President,  has  died.  The  following  minute  was 
adopted  by  the  Board  of  Directors  at  a  regular  meeting  on 
the  r2th  day  of  May,  1919: 

Henry  E.  Rees,  a  Vice-President  and  Director  of  this 
Company,  died  May  8,  1919,  after  a  long  illness  which  he 
bore  with  extreme  fortitude  and  patience. 

Mr.  Rees  was  in  the  employ  of  this  Company  for  thirty 
years,  having  been  appointed  a  Special  Agent  for  the  Southern 
Field  in  1889.  He  was  so  familiar  with  the  business  of  the  South, 
and  filled  the  position  so  acceptably,  he  was  called  to  the  Home 
Office  of  the  Company  and  elected  Assistant  Secretary  on 
April  7, 1897.  He  was  elected  Secretary  May  6, 1907,  and  on 
April  24, 1912,  was  elected  a  Vice-President,  and  at  the  following 
Annual  Meeting,  January  29,  1913,  was  elected  a  Director 
of  the  Company. 

An  able  underwriter  and  a  good  citizen,  he  took  a  keen 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  business,  and  for  two  years  was 
President  of  the  Eastern  Union,  and  at  the  time  of  his  decease 
was  President  of  the  Southeastern  Underwriters  Association. 
He  was  active  in  the  important  work  of  the  National  Board 
of  Fire  Underwriters,  being  on  the  Executive  Committee  for  a 
number  of  years,  and  for  a  time  its  Chairman. 

He  was  devoted  to  his  business,  and  the  interests  of  the 
j^tna  were  his  chief  delight. 

In  Church,  Sunday -School  and  religious  matters  generally 
he  was  deeply  interested.  His  influence  was  always  for  that 
which  was  good. 

We  shall  miss  his  cheerful  presence,  and  most  deeply 
deplore  his  departure  from  our  midst. 

We  extend  to  his  family  our  most  sincere  sympathy. 

Attest: 


&rrrrtarg 


T- 


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